The Dragon King and Queen
by Grizzly98
Summary: "Two decades after the portals are closed the dragon prince will rise and claim his princess. With powers united they will stop the danger that encroaches upon dragonkind, and in their place a sole ruler shall take the throne for all eternity." A prophecy foretold, a threat rises. Can Natsu and Lucy accept their new responsibilities and pull off the impossible?
1. How did we end up here?

**This is just something I've been thinking about for the past few weeks. Let me know what you think.**

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Chapter 1

How did we end up here?

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

Explosions are going off everywhere.

Knives are being thrown.

Dark mages lie passed out or dead on the ground.

And I'm running for my life because I have no magic left.

"Luce, look out!" I can barely hear the shout, but it's too late. I feel the pain radiate from my abdomen, but I can't bare to look. Instead, all I see is a head of salmon-colored hair hanging over mine. I can barely make out his words.

"Luce, Lucy, it'll be okay, I'll get you out of here."

I feel like I'm floating when I hear what sounds like a roar, before I finally give into the darkness.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I see the attack heading for Luce as she dives for cover, but when I call out, "Luce, look out!" It's too late, and she's already been hit. I burn the guilty bastard to ashes before running over to her.

"Luce, Lucy, it'll be okay, I'll get you out of here."

I scoop Lucy into my arms, but as I start to run her to safety, I hear a roar behind me. I turn to see a dragon with golden scales appear out of nowhere, and strike down the remaining dark guild members in a flash.

I can't worry about that right now, though; I have to get Luce to safety. So, I take off in the opposite direction as fast as I can, but I hear the dragon's wings flapping and know we're not gonna make it.

So, I close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable doom, but I'm shocked when the dragon picks me and Luce up and carries us through what looks like a portal.

Then, I hear the dragon speak for the first time.

"You have no need to fear, we are here to help, young Dragneel, but you must make sure the princess stays alive. We will get help soon, but for now, use what extra magic you have left and use some of mine as well to keep her with us."

I don't bother to question the dragon right now, as I'm in no condition to fight, so I do as she says and pour my magic and some of her's into Luce's limp body. After, I clutch her close to me, and eventually pass out from exhaustion.

When next I wake, I'm surrounded by dragons, some in their human form and others in their beast form.

The first thing that jumps into my head is Luce, but when I go to sit up to look for her, someone with red hair pushes me back down saying, "No, son, you need to rest."

I don't get the chance to see who the dragon is because I feel sleep overtake me again, but before I slip back into the darkness I manage to ask,"Where is my Luce?"

The next time I wake up, I'm in some gigantic room. I'm no longer in the clothes I was in earlier. Now, I'm just dressed in a simple t-shirt and sweats.

I try to get up, but pain strikes me everywhere, forcing me back down. Then, I remember Luce and I grit my teeth against the pain. I walk over to the window and pull back the curtain, however, when I do, my breath is taken, because before me lays a city of dragons.

There are some flying, some that look humanoid with just wings and a tail, then there are others that look completely human.

I turn when I smell someone at the door, and slide into a fighting stance. When the dragon opens the door, I growl and toss a fireball at the them. I know it won't hurt them, but it will still stun them.

Then, I hear chuckling. I stare at the figure, confused, until he speaks.

"Seriously? You don't recognize your own dad?"

I growl and reply, "My dad disappeared sixteen years ago."

"Seriously, Natsu?" Then, he lights his arm on fire enough to show me his face.

I freeze, unsure of what to do next.

'Luce' That one name keeps me going.

"Where's Lucy?" I ask apprehensively.

Dad replies, "In a bedroom, down the hall." Then, he takes a look at me and adds, "Would you like to go see her?"

I hesitate for only a second before nodding. He turns and walks out the door, and I follow him down the hall past two doors. He stops in front of one.

"She's still asleep, as her injuries were far worse than yours, so don't be an idiot and wake her up."

I nod, and he lets me in the room. I walk in and feel like Ice dick has knocked the air out of my lungs, because there she lies, bandaged from head to toe. Though, I can hear her breathing so I sigh in relief.

I walk back to Dad and he closes the door while saying, "You're probably hungry, so why don't we go down and get some dinner?"

Before I can reply, my stomach answers for me, and I hear him chuckle as we walk. Once we go down to the dining room, I'm met by about 20 dragons sitting at the dining table.

Dad walks toward the head of the table and sits down, pointing to the seat next to him for me to sit.

"Natsu, this is the queen of the dragons, Layla Heartfilia," Dad gestures at a woman with light blonde almost white hair and the same brown eyes as Lucy who sits at the head of the table. "Your Majesty, this is my son, Natsu Dragneel."

I feel my breath catch before he jabs me in the ribs and I stumble out with some semblance of words."Hello, Your Majesty."

She gives me a small smile. "Hello, if I may be so bold, how do you know my daughter?"

I grin and explain, "Because, I'm the one that brought her to Fairy Tail, well, actually, we met because I was in Hargeon looking for this guy here." Pointing at Dad. "When she ran into a bit of trouble, I helped her out, she helped me out, and then I found out that she wanted to be apart of my guild. So, I brought her back and we've been best friends and partners since."

Then, a pink-haired woman that looks like she could be Porlyusica's twin asks gently, "How did you two end up with such horrific injuries?"

My grin fades as I think back to 2 weeks ago.

 **~Flashback~**

 _"Team Natsu, I need you in my office NOW." The request came from the master of our guild, Makarov, or Gramps, as we called him._

 _When we entered his office he stated, "I have a special mission for you from the Magic council. You are to go take down a dark guild that goes by the name of Sunset Moon."_

 _We looked at him with determination, and he added, "But, hear me now, if anything gets destroyed that I have to pay for, the entire reward is going into the guilds pocket to pay for your messes. Do you hear me, brats?"_

 _"Yeah, we understand you." We replied simultaneously.._

 _The next day, we headed out and started tracking the guild down. It took us a week and a half to find them, and another 2 days before we could come up with a plan. But, when we put the plan in motion, everything went wrong, and we ended up getting ambushed. Erza was off fighting the main force, since they were all mainly weaklings._

 _Then, me and Luce got separated. Every time we would attempt to group back up, something would happen to divide us again._

 _Luce eventually ran out of power to summon anymore spirits, and, even if she had the energy, all her gold keys were too injured to help._

 _That's when things got real bad, The mage I had been fighting, the leader, chanted a spell as we were struggling, and he shot it at Lucy._

 _I tried to warn her, but it was too late. Then, I was running, trying to get her to safety, because we didn't have Wendy with us, and out of nowhere a golden dragon appeared, grabbing us and flying off._

 **~End Flashback~**

"The last thing I remember, is the dragon saying she was there to help before I passed out and woke up in the room." I finish telling them the tale.

A few of the dragons are glaring at a dragon with short bronze-blonde hair, in a dress that has stars on it.

Then, Layla speaks up. "Natsu, that golden dragon is actually Celeste, the Celestial dragon." Here, the dragon with the starry dress waves at me, not bothering to say anything.

Then, something clicks. "Hey, Celeste?" She looks at me. "What happened to my friends that were left on the battlefield?"

Celeste smiles and states, "After I roared, everyone froze, so I took the chance to wipe out a good portion of the enemy that was left so your friends could finish them off."

My shoulders relax at hearing that, and then my stomach makes itself known to the other dragons, but mine isn't the only one. Dad's does it, too, and when the other dragons hear it they all say, "Like father, like son," before laughing.

Queen Layla stands up. "While we sit here talking, we all become hungry, so let's feast and be merry, for the prince and princess have returned."

With that proclamation, she claps her hands and trays loaded to overflowing float in.

While everyone eats, I turn to Dad."What did she mean by 'the prince and the princess'?"

"Shh, I'll tell you later," he says, before going back to his food.

After dinner, many dragons leave, either for their homes or for business they must attend to, but four stay behind.

As I walk up to them, I scrunch my nose. "Ugh, you smell like an Iron dragon slayer I know."

The guy in an iron-colored business suit raises an eyebrow and says gruffly, "You wouldn't by any chance be referring to a Gajeel Redfox, now, would you?"

My eyes are the size of dinner plates when the realization hits me."So, you're Metalicana? Then, that must mean you are Grandine." I assume, turning to the exact copy of Porlyusica, only this one is happy and isn't trying to smack people with her broom all the time.

They nod, before asking at the same time, "How is that jackass?" and, "How is my darling, Wendy?"

I turn to Metalicana then Grandine, "Metal face, Ice prick, and I get into fights all the time, just for the fun of it. And, as for Wendy, she's really grown into her role as a dragon slayer. When we first met her, all she used was support magic, but since she's joined Fairy Tail, she's learned a lot of new spells and can easily wipe the floor with an opponent. Though, she can still tend to be a bit shy."

Metalicana is grinning like a madman, and Grandine has tears of joy in her eyes.

I yawn as Igneel comes up behind me, clapping a hand down on my shoulder."Come on, son, you have a long day tomorrow. And, to be honest, you look plain ugly with no sleep."

When I look at him, he's grinning like the Mad Hatter, so I knock him in the arm before retracing my scent back to my room. However, I stop two doors down, and go in that door, instead.

I pull a chair up to the side of the bed, and grab Luce's hand before laying my head down and going to sleep.

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 **Reviews are my life line let me know what you think. Should I write more? Got any ideas on where this should go? I'll leave it to you guys to point me in the right direction. What do you want to see?**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **New A/N**

 **Edited 12/20/2016 by xSteleAliniax**


	2. The Prince and the Princess

**Wow everybody seems to really like this story.**

 **In case anyone is wondering this is two years**

 **after Tenrou and the Grand Magic Games/ Eclipse.**

 **So instead of you listening to me ramble I give you**

 **Chapter 2**

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Chapter 2

The Prince and the Princess

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I wake up and look around the room, not recognizing anything about it. _'I'm not in the guild infirmary and I'm definitely not in a hospital, so then where am I?'_ I think as I continue looking around.

When I go to sit up I feel something pull on my hand and look down to see Natsu holding my hand and laying his head on the blanket out like a light.

I look up to see light shining through the cracks in the window so I decide to wake Natsu up.

I know the normal shaking doesn't work so I move to the next step which is "Natsu, Gray's freezing your house again." I whisper in his ear.

I quickly move my head out of the way so it doesn't get hit when he stands up looking for Gray. When he realizes he's not there he looks at me and says "Luce you're awake."

"Natsu where are we?" I ask but before he answers the door opens and in walks a guy that's 6'6" with spiky red hair wearing a black business suit with a red shirt and a tie that has flames on it, oh and he's scowling at Natsu.

"Natsu where have you been? The queen has people searching for you everywhere in the estate."

"Oh hey dad, I was right here the whole time with Luce." The guys with the red hair sees me and bows saying "Good morning your highness how do you feel?"

"G-good" I manage to stammer out looking from Natsu to the guys in the business suit and back to Natsu.

"Oh Luce this is Igneel, my dad."

"Y-your dad? But didn't he disappear 16 years ago?" I sputter

Natsu gives me a grin before saying "Yup, and before you ask anymore questions, there are a few thing I know and don't know. The first being that your mother is apparently the queen, the second being that after you passed out in the battle a dragon name Celeste picked us up, and I've met Metalicana and Grandeeney. As for the I don't know's. Don't know why we're here. Don't know why our parents are here. And above all I don't know where here is."

I soak all that up before I get out of bed, but when I go to stand up I start falling and Natsu catches me.

"Uh Luce your injuries were pretty bad you may want to stay in bed for a little while." Natsu says calmly while setting me back on the bed.

Then I remember something. "Uh Natsu where are my keys?" He walks over to a dresser and brings them back to me.

Once they're in my hands I can hear everyone asking if I'm alright. I silently send them an all good before sighing and just holding them.

"Hey Natsu can I get something to eat?"

Igneel steps in and says "I'll go down and order something for you two, and let the Queen know you're up, and Natsu? Try staying put for once in your life." Sending him a glare before walking out.

I lean back on the pillow and say "So what exactly happened after I passed out I remember hearing something like a roar but after that nothing."

He sits back down in the chair and says "Well after you passed out I started running trying to get you away from the fighting. Then I heard the dragon roar behind me, when I turned around it was knocking out the dark mages, so I took it as my chance to run. But as I started running the dragon grabbed us up. And after that I don't really remember much else myself."

He's rubbing the back of his head like he does when he's embarrassed. "What about Erza and Gray?"

"Huh oh Celeste said that she thinned out the enemies ranks enough for Erza and Gray to finish the job." I breathe a sigh of relief.

Then the doors open and a blonde haired woman enters with a servant carrying a tray behind her. My breath catches in my throat.

"Mama? Is that you?" She smiles at my questions before giving me a hug. "Yea it's me Lucy, I'm so sorry for leaving you the way I had, but it was the only thing I could do to protect the dragon realm.

"Wait a minute, did you just say the dragon realm?" I look at Natsu and there's realization in his eyes.

"Yes how did you not realize that by now?" She says.

"Well excuse me but in case you haven't noticed in the past two days everything has been a mess, but I guess if I had taken a second to think about it, it would've all made sense." He says at first a little angry then thoughtful.

"Baka you don't think much as is" I say playfully

"At least I'm not a weirdo who's actually a princess." He retorts

"You're not a princess but you are a prince." We freeze at Mama's words then simultaneously we say "What the fuck are you talking about?

Then the Queen scowls at me saying "Where did you learn that language young lady?"

I say the name of everyone who I've heard it from starting at Dad and ending with Natsu. "And don't forget everyone at the guild says it quite often."

I roll my eyes at Natsu's remark before saying "That isn't the only one I've heard."

Her scowl turns into a smirk as she says "Now I remember it was always fun being at the guild so tell me. Is Makarov still master or has his grandson, what was his name? Oh yea Laxus taken over yet?"

My jaw hits the bed and Natsu's jaw hits the floor then I say "Wait, you were a member of Fairy Tail?"

She just nods her head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Lucy I didn't know if you were gonna take the Mage's path or not, and I didn't want to force you into it."

I just crossed my arms and Harrumphed.

"Lucy I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but you two have to listen to what I'm about to tell you. Can you promise not to interrupt me?"

I look her in the eye and I cave saying "You have my word." Natsu is apprehensive but finally he caves saying "If Luce gives her word then I give mine."

Mama nods before saying "The reason why I had to leave as well as the dragons is because hunters were trying to find a portal here. Up until July 7, 777 there were permanent portals placed around the world. When we found out hunters were looking for the portals we became edgy but when one hunter actually managed to enter and destroy a nest was when we took action. We quickly disappeared into the dragon realm and sealed the entrance. We had to leave you because you were too young to travel by way of portal. As for why you're here now you, Lucy, are the princess of the dragon realm and Natsu is the prince. It was prophesied that the dragon prince and his human princess would return and save the dragons again."

I stare at her as if she's grown two heads while Natsu says "What, exactly, is this prophecy?"

Mama takes a deep breath but Igneel cuts in saying " Two decades after the portals are closed the dragon prince will rise and claim his princess. With powers united they will stop the danger that encroaches upon dragonkind. And in their place a sole ruler shall take the throne for all eternity."

Mama nods at the dragon before saying "We're not sure about the last line but we do know you are the prince and the princess."

I'm speechless so Natsu ends up asking the questions I can't. "How are we the prince and the princess? Where did the prophecy come from? And how are we supposed to save all of dragonkind? Just the day before Luce thought you were dead. And I was thinking of going to track down the ugly mug behind me."

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I standing there with all these questions whirling through my head when I feel dad's hand on my shoulder. "Son I know it's a lot to take in but you have to calm down."

I shrug his hand off and say to Luce "I'm gonna go find something to burn, I'll be back in a bit."

When I see her nod I walk out the door and just walk, when I hear footsteps behind me I say "What do you want?"

"I know how you are and I have the perfect place for you to let loose." I stop and turn back to dad in surprise.

"I can see you've grown up and just the fact that you didn't burn something back there proves it, and if you're anything like me then you let your emotions out through action, so if you'll follow me I know of a place where you can burn whatever you want and not get into trouble and if you want we could fight." He says with a shrug and a grin.

I grin back looking forward to a fight and say "Lead the way." He walks past me and I follow him. We walk for another 10 minutes before we come up to a set of gigantic doors.

He moves out of the way and says "Put your hand there." Pointing to a palm print on the door. "And ignite your hand."

I do as he says and then I watch as the fire lights up the palm print before racing up the doors, as we watch the fire creates the outline of a roaring fire dragon before the doors open revealing a room completely encased in rock.

This room is about 300 feet long by 200 feet wide and when I say completely encased in stone I mean it. All around is nothing but different kinds of stone on the ceiling, floor and walls, but strangely there is still windows to let in light.

When we walk in he says "This room is designed to contain the hottest fires we can put out so there's no worries about catching part of the castle on fire. As for why you had to use your fire to open the door. Well this room is reserved for members of the royal dragon family, only their fire can open it. That seal you saw appear on the door is our family seal."

I cross my arms as I take in what he's saying. "Dad why didn't you tell me this before you left." I say looking out the window at the dragons flying past.

"Because, son, you were too young, and we weren't sure if you and Lucy were the ones the prophecy spoke of." He says quietly.

"Then what makes you so sure now?" I say in a growl slowly heating up as I let my anger and confusion take over.

"The first reason is because no dragon could pass through the portal until the prince or princess called, the second reason is your love for Lucy runs deeper then you would think, and the third reason which has sealed it for me is the fact that you just opened a door with the family seal. So if that doesn't make you the prince then call me a stupid reptile." by the end he's yelling.

"Then guess what you are, because I'm no prince." I jump at him and he dodges the blow. He swings around and hits me with a "Fire dragon's Iron Fist"

"Fire Dragon's Claw" and I kick him across the chest. "You still don't get it. Do you?" He says as he retaliates with a "Fire Dragon's sword horn."

"I was never a prince and I never will be." I shout as I jump back to avoid the hit. "Yes you are, can't you feel what you have with her." I freeze and he hits me with "Fire Dragon's wing attack"

"No I'm not right for her. I may love her but she doesn't feel that way about me. To her we're just friends and partners." I say quietly again avoiding the attack.

"You truly are an idiot, can't you see she feels the same way?" He says as he stops within a few feet of me.

"No she could never love me." I say as I leap forward with "Fire dragon's Iron fist."

"Why couldn't she Natsu? She trusted you enough to go with you to Fairy Tail right?" He says as he ducks.

"Trusting someone and Loving someone are two completely different things." I say as I jump and strike with "Fire Dragon's brilliant Flame"

"Natsu instead of using your eyes listen to your heart. I taught you to listen to your heart and instincts. Why won't you do that now?" He says countering with a "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang"

I stop moving and say "Because I don't want to lose her, or worse be seen as a monster in her eyes. I value what I have with her too much to risk it. I can take being seen as a monster in others eyes but if I saw it in her's it would break me."

I backflip and yell "Fire Dragon's roar." Pulling out all the stops and putting everything I'm feeling into it. All my frustration, confusion, anger, love. Everything.

When I land I take a knee catching my breath and I look up once the smoke clears to see dad's clothes burned and him coughing smoke.

"Well that was something, I do have to admit you've gotten quite a bit stronger." he says once the smoke stops. I stand up and say "And I can keep on all day to. Wanna see?"

He holds his hand up says "You've proven enough to me but I do believe you have to talk to someone." I look at look at where he's looking and freeze.

"No you didn't, you ass." I growl at him. He just grins before walking out of the room and closing the doors behind her.

I run my hand through my hair and stand there not knowing what to say or do. _'Well she had to find out one way or another.'_ I decide but before I can open my mouth she says "Is it true?"

I look at the ground, not wanting to look her in the eye, and say "Yea, it's true. Every last bit of it."

I stumble backwards when she tackles me into a hug. "Baka I love you too. I could never see you as a monster, you're my dragon, my protector."

I hug her back and say "Thanks Luce" She looks up at me and says "For what?" I shrug and say "Just for being there."

She slaps my chest and I chuckle before lowering my head and kissing her. She melts into it but eventually we have to break for air. I lean my forehead against hers and says "You are the most amazing person in the world."

She doesn't say anything, but she reaches up and kisses me back. When we break again she says "So you're a dragon prince?" I chuckle and say "I guess so, don't know how that worked out but to be honest I really don't care. As long as I have you I could care less."

She smiles before saying "Come on Mama wants to have breakfast with us." I nod and walk to the door. I open one side and she walks out and I follow closing the massive door behind me.

When we get to the study where we're having breakfast with the queen, Igneel is waiting outside the doors to let us in. I frown at the thought of calling Luce's mom queen so I quickly decide I like Layla better.

"What's going through your head?" I look up to see Luce looking at me and I say "I don't like the idea of calling you mom queen, to me it just doesn't feel right."

She smiles and says "Well you could always call her Layla." I grin and say "I had already decided on that."

When we sit at the desk Layla says "Have you two come to terms with what we told you?" I grin and Luce says "Yea we have, so what exactly does this mean?"

Layla smiles and says "For the next year you two will be training with the most prominent elemental dragons, effectively becoming a dragon slayer for you, Lucy, and for Natsu, you will be able to use more than just fire. Of course this means that you won't be able to learn from the water dragon as the two elements would cancel each other but I do believe Acnologia has volunteered to teach you his magic."

We both do a spit take simultaneously. Layla frowns and says "What's the matter with Acnologia?"

I start growling but Luce puts her hand on my arm and says "We had a bit of a run in with Acnologia, that left a sour taste in Natsu's mouth and cost us 7 years with our guild. But I'm sure he would be ok for making up for it by teaching him. Though if I may ask would he be ok teaching me as well?"

Layla looks at me and a far away look crosses her eyes for a brief second before she says "You can ask him yourself in 10 minutes."

"How do you know?" I say picking up half a hash brown and tossing it into the air before catching it with my mouth.

Luce slaps me in the back of the head and says "Baka how many times do I have to tell you not to play with your food?"

I grin and just pick up another piece repeating the process and again she slaps me. "Luce you can only slap me so many times before you figure out I will play with my food if I want."

She glares at me and I start shivering at the malice her gaze holds. She smiles and Layla says "As queen I have a connection with the prominent elemental dragons and Acnologia being the only chaos dragon means I have a connection with him as well. Lucy when you take the crown you will have this connection as well."

Luce nods before saying "You said we'll only be here for a year training, but the prophecy isn't supposed to occur for another 4 years. What will we do in the meantime?"

Layla takes a bite of a biscuit before saying "Quite simple really after you are proficient in each of the elements you will be able to control a portal meaning you will be going back to Earthland until it's time for the prophecy to come true. And have no fear about time difference. You see the prophecy relies on Earthland time, but a year in the dragon realm only equals up to about 3 or 4 days in Earthland."

I manage to not choke on my food before saying "How is the time difference so big?"

Layla looks at me and says "When dragons are spread between here and Earthland the times run equal but with all the dragons gathered here, the aging magic that they hold forces the time to move slowly. Now when the dragons enter Earthland again the times will move at the same rate."

I look at Luce not exactly understanding what Layla had just said so then Luce says "The dragons live longer than humans and that's because they use aging magic. When the dragons were spread between here and home their magic slowed both times until they were moving apace but since all dragons are here their time has slowed to a snail's pace."

I nod before snatching a biscuit off the tray. "So when do we start?

"Once you talk to Acnologia." Layla says as she nods at a guard at the door. The guard opens the door and a dragon, with wild white hair dressed in a black suit with blue trim, walks in.

He bows to Layla before bowing to each of us in turn before saying "Please accept my apologies for my actions on Tenrou, at the time I was only going after Zeref I didn't realize you were the prince and princess."

I grin and say "It's no problem with me but we were wondering if when you teach me your magic if you would be willing to teach Lucy."

Acnologia grins and says "Of course, though might I say even back on Tenrou your hits were quite powerful."

I raise an eyebrow and say "Really? Because it didn't even look like we made a dent."

He shakes his head "You didn't make a dent but I certainly had bruises and a few burned scales the next morning."

Luce stands up and says "Thank you for accepting to teach me as well, Acnologia, you won't regret it."

The black dragon smiles a true smile before bowing again and turning to leave.

We turn back to Layla and she says "Your training starts tomorrow. You'll fly with Igneel to his cave where you'll stay for a month and a half, after that you'll go to Grandeeney, Metalicana, Weisslogia and Skiadrum, Aqua, Venom, Acnologia, Spark, Glacier, then you'll be spending the last month and a half with Celeste. Is that workable?"

I grin and Luce says "That works with us, but if I may ask why a month and a half with Igneel and Celeste?"

"Since Natsu already knows fire magic Igneel will using half a month to catch you up and then further increase both of your skill levels, and the same goes with Celeste. She is the Celestial dragon and since you already know so much about celestial magic, Natsu will need the time to catch up before she can further your skills." Layla says as she sips her tea.

"So then what do we do for the rest of today?" I say catching another hash brown.

"That's quite simple really, you can spend the rest of the day exploring the castle grounds and meeting new dragons along the way." I look at Luce as Layla says this and then I say "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go."

I grab Luce by the wrist and pull her out of the study already running down the hall. I can hear Luce laugh and I know she's having just as much fun as I am.

We spend the rest of the day exploring the grounds and meeting dragons of every element, as we explore we find out that most have more than one element but the dragons who have one element typically end up being leaders.

Eventually we stop for lunch in the kitchen and then we get lost in the garden maze for a few hours where I may have accidentally set a rose bush or three on fire when I sneezed.

After dinner we head to bed, excited for what the next year will bring.

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 **Alright guys it's the usual leave the reviews and you'll see more of this story, but make sure you check out my other stories. There are a few one shots and I try to put one up every couple of nights though no guarantees. As for this story.**

 **This story will be updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. leave the reviews, they are my food for thought, the sweet nectar that is my life line.**


	3. Igneel

**Guys I gotta tell you, I really did not expect this kind of out put from you on this story. I mean 33 followers and 16 favorites is awesome so keep it up. The big thing I'm asking for now though is Reviews. I'll take any ideas you have I mean seriously I can't come up what happens with all 11 dragons on my own. Tell me what you want to see. whelp that's my spiel.**

 **Here's Chapter 3**

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Chapter 3

Igneel

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

The next day we're up bright and early sitting in the study with Layla eating breakfast while we wait for Dad. After we finish eating Laya says "It's time Igneel is waiting in the take off zone."

We follow her through the halls and out a set of glass doors to a large gravel yard. In the middle Dad sits in beast form waiting for us. Luce jumps when Dad growls but I say "Luce chill Dad's just messing with you. Ain't that right Dad?"

Dad grins and says "You caught me. Now climb on it takes half a day to fly to my place and by the time we get there the lava should be cool enough for you two to swim in."

I throw my fist in the air yelling "Yosh". "I love swimming in lava, so much better than swimming in water, it's a lot warmer." I say but when I turn to Luce she's terrified.

I smile and say "Relax Luce Dad can control the temperature of the lava so you won't burn." She throw on a smile and we climb onto his back.

He throws over his shoulder "Hold on tight" before he jumps and flaps his wings gaining air as her does. Once his feet clear the top of the hedge he flies forward and spirals over the castle before heading east.

True to his word it takes half a day to reach the volcano where his cave is but while he's flying I say to Luce "Do you trust me?" She looks at me and nods.

I stand up and pull her up with me, she squeaks and holds onto me tighter but I say "Relax I'm not gonna let you go and Dad won't let us fall. He may decide to do a trick or two but not when you're so new to flying."

Luce relaxes and I'm able to pull back a bit to let her see the ground rushing by below. Right now we're flying through fire territory so as we look around all we see are volcanoes, both active and dead, and rivers of lava.

"Was this where you grew up Natsu?" she says as she looks under Dad's wing.

I shake my head and say "I grew up in the forest near Shirotsume, but sometimes Dad would fly me to the volcano nearby and let me swim, then when we flew back he would drop me in the lake so I would wash the ash out of my hair."

I let her go and slowly walk backward until I'm standing on Dad's tail. I grin and say "Hey Luce when you're brave enough you'll be able to do this without fear."

Luce looks at me and gasp while her eyes follow me as I with with Dad's tail. We hear Dad chuckle before he says "Even when you were young you would always try to do that but you couldn't figure out how to plant your feet while letting the rest of your body flow with the wind."

"Yea it took me a while and plenty of broken tree branches before I figured it out." I say as I walk off his tail and back to where Luce is standing.

"If you two want an even better view walk up to my horns, because your home for the next month and a half is up ahead." He says after awhile. I grab Luce's hand and walk up to his head, Luce freezes when he chuckles but I say "That scale you're standing on is ticklish."

When we stand next to Dad's horns we see the biggest volcano in all of fire territory, which is as it should be for the fire dragon king. "Hey Dad where's your cave?" I say as I look over the volcano.

"I have two there. One is at the top, while the other is at the bottom. The bottom one is bigger so I hold court and many other activities there, while the one up top is my personal cave where I go when I don't want to be disturbed." He says as he angles towards the lower cavern.

When he lands the first thing I do is cannonball off of his tail into the lava. When I come up for air I say "There is nothing like swimming in lava to clear the senses."

I look to see Luce horrified and Dad laughing his ass off at her expression. Then an idea pops into my head and I say "Hey Luce can you give me a hand?"

She nods and when she offers her hand to me I pull her in with me. She comes up sputtering and she says "what did you do that for?" I shrug and say "You had to enter the lava at one point."

"It's true in order to learn fire dragon magic you need to have an understanding of all things fire." We look up when Dad walks over in his human form, but this time he's wearing a tshirt and shorts.

Before I say anything Luce is pushing me under the surface and I'm wrestling trying to get her off, when I finally come up for air I say "Ugh it taste just as bad as I remember."

Dad snorts and says "Of course lava is just super heated rock, and you're not rock dragons. The only reason why fire dragons love lava is because of the heat it gives off and the fact that it can set things on fire."

Then he gives us a hand out of the lava and we walk into the cave. It's not just one cave but a system of caves which includes a secret passage up to Dad's private cave.

When we enter Dad says "If you follow me I'll show you to your rooms. Don't worry about clothes your room have already been stocked with clothing specific to fire training. Each dragon you train with will have this done for you."

He leads us down a hallway and stops in front of two identical doors, the only difference being on the door on his right a star is engraved while the one on his left has a flame engraved.

Dad points to the left and says "Natsu this is your room." Then he points to the right and says "Lucy this is your room, a word of advice, though, you may want to leave your keys behind during your training."

"Why would I leave my keys behind?" She says shocked at the thought of going anywhere without her keys.

"Luce some of the fire we train with is hot enough to melt your keys, and you value your spirits too much to want to unintentionally damage them." I say softly.

She nods and Dad says "You don't have to worry about them being taken, there is an enchanted chest I placed in your room that only you and myself are able to open. If you will follow me I will show you how to open it."

Luce relaxes and they enter her room while I enter mine and look around. The room itself is simple with a bed and a trunk at the foot of the bed. I look to the right and find a cabinet, when I open the cabinet it's full of food.

My stomach growls and I start eating but stop when I hear a cough behind me I turn around to find Dad and Luce standing in the doorway. Luce is already dressed in her training clothes which consist of a really short tank top and a pair of short shorts.

"You can eat later Natsu, I want to start training." Luce says with a smirk. I nod and say "Alright then lets go, this'll be fun."

Dad raises an eyebrow and says "Don't think you're getting out of this just because you already know it, you can go over the basics again."

Luce nods and says "It never hurts to cover the basics again." I pout and say "But why?"

Luce gives me a glare and says "You're going over the basics with me do you understand me?" I yelp and say "Aye sir."

Dad chuckles but leads us out front of the cave to start training. "Now the first thing you're gonna do is meditate to find your inner fire." Dad says as he leads us to flat ground.

I immediately settle into the crossed legged position while Luce copies me, then I take my fist and line them up to where the knuckles of my left hand and my right hand are lined up and I close my eyes taking deep breaths as I relax.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

When Natsu settles sits down I copy his actions and when I close my eyes and slow my breathing Igneel says "Now look inward find the flame that resides there, it will be small but it will be there."

As I focus I can feel it but when I go to grab it, it slips through my hands like sand. When I find it again I slowly coax it out until I can see it clearly. I can see a small golden flame that flickers as thoughts cross my mind, it seems so small that just a puff of breath could blow it out.

Then I hear Igneel say "When you find the flame don't grab it instead feed the flame let it grow until it consumes you, let it take flow free. Yes there you go Lucy."

I open my eyes find myself on fire but before I can freak out Igneel says "Now focus the flame into the palms of your hands."

I think 'Ok I want the flames in the palms of my hands, but how do I do that?' but before I say this out loud I feel something from the flame itself, almost as if it wants to be guided.

So I take control and gently guide the flames down my arms until they're centered in my palms.

"Very good, now try and expand the flame to just encase your wrist." The dragon says softly.

I add fuel to the fire until the flames lick back up my hands and over my wrists but before they can go any further I cut the fuel supply to a trickle.

Before I know what's happening the flame goes out and black gathers around the edge of my vision. I hear Igneel say from a distance "That's enough for today"

I shake my head to clear it and I hear Natsu chuckle before he says "Come on weirdo you gave your fire too much fuel you just need to eat and you'll be fine."

I stand up and lean against Natsu so I don't fall back, then I notice how hungry I am. "So that's why you always eat? Because your magic takes so much energy?" I say as I look at him.

He nods and says "When I was little it was worse because I had to give more fuel to make my fire bigger and last longer but now it's not so bad."

"Not so bad? Natsu you still manage to clean out my fridge in one day." I say staring at him wide eyed.

We look at Igneel when he chuckles and says "Oh it was much worse, I would have to catch three boar just for him to eat before I could catch something for myself."

When we walk into the cave Igneel guides us to a table for four that is piled with every food known to the universe. Natsu starts digging in while I make my plate before I eat, as I eat I say "Igneel what spells are you going to teach us?"

The dragon finishes his plate before he says "Well first, seeing as Natsu is quite skilled, most of the month will be catching you up to his skill level but after that there should be enough time for me to teach you both some spells that I couldn't when Natsu was level."

"Wasn't there a spell you said you would teach me that was something about a fire dragon's soul?" Natsu says after finishes off a piece of chicken.

Igneel nods and says "Dragon's soul. An extremely strong spell that is not something to be used lightly, it works by calling upon the flame that resides in all fire dragons to burn away the evil and save your loved ones. All fire dragons will know when it has been used, but the greatest downfall of it is just how much energy is required. If I remember your guild Fairy Tail has something similar to it. What was it? Fairy Law?"

"Wait so you mean that Dragon's soul is similar to one of the three great spells of Fairy Tail?" I say in shock.

He nods and says "Fairy Law is actually derived from Dragon's soul, just instead of calling upon the dragons it calls upon the bonds that form Fairy Tail."

Natsu is quiet for a minute before he says "It makes sense." Then he dives back into the food.

After dinner Igneel says "You two should get to bed we start early tomorrow." Natsu grins and says "Yea if you can get caught up quickly Luce then we can learn more of the stronger spells."

I just shake my head in exasperation before saying "Good night." When I enter my room I walk over to the chest, that Igneel had given me for my keys, and lay my hand on top of it chanting "I am the rightful owner of this chest open to reveal what lays inside."

I remove my hand and the chest pops open with a muffled click, I lift the lid back to reveal an interior covered in velvet while my keys softly glow in greeting from me being near.

I grab one off the key chain, one that I've become close friends with and say "I call upon thee: open gate of the lion, Leo."

I turn around when a golden light flashes behind me to see Loke grinning at me. Finally the lion spirit says "It's been awhile Princess, is it true what I heard from Draco that you and Natsu are part of the prophecy?"

I sigh and say "I was hoping you could help me clear this up some. I don't quite understand what this prophecy is."

I walk over to the bed and sit down and Loke follows suit. His brow crease for a second before he says "From what Draco has told me and what I found in the Library the prophecy was created 400 years ago after the the dragon wars."

I frown and say "Why does that sound familiar?"

He grins and says "Think back to the Eclipse project." Then it clicks and I say "But what does that have to do with now?"

"Well after the Dragon wars and the festival a farseer told the celestial queen of that time that in the year of 777 in the month of July the portals to the Dragon realm would be sealed from the inside and the only way for them to open is for the celestial princess and the fire prince to use their combined powers." Loke says

"Still what does that have to do with me and Natsu" I say trying to wrap my head around what the Lion spirit is saying.

"T-The only way for a portal to open is for both the prince and princess to be in close proximity to it, and when you were fighting that dark guild you had gotten close enough to the portal for it to open. The reason why Celeste rescued you is because the wound you had was fatal if not healed in enough time. No one was in the spirit realm or the Dragon realm was even sure you two were part of the prophecy until that day. " He says softly.

I look him in the eye and say "If we are the prince and the princess what exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Apparently you will stop the dark forces that are trying to take over the dragon realm and you will reopen all portals to the dragon realm, then in due time your child will take the throne and be crowned ruler for all eternity."

I pale at this words and stutter "C-c-child? I'm too young for kids Loke, I'm only 19. I still have yet to publish my novel. I can't have a child."

He grabs my hand and says "Not now but in the future, for now you only have to worry about learning from the dragons and having fun with the guild when you return."

I nod and he says "But there is one thing that Draco told me to warn you of."

"Stop beating around the bush Loke, you know I hate that." I say when Loke looks away.

He sighs and says "When you return to Earthland you and Natsu can't tell anyone about the prophecy else every person with evil intentions will be after you and Natsu to get to the dragon realm, and your child, whenever you have them, will be extremely powerful."

I nod everything from that day finally catching up to me. "Thank you Loke you can return." He nods and before he leaves he says "So long Princess have fun in your training."

I fall back on the bed and promptly fall asleep all worries about the prophecy being washed away with my dreams.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I'm walking down the hall towards my room when I hear voices coming from Luce's. I instantly recognize Luce and Loke so I lean against the wall listening to what they're saying.

I take a sharp breath when I hear Loke say "Apparently you will stop the dark forces that are trying to take over the dragon realm and you will reopen all portals to the dragon realm, then in due time your child will take the throne and be crowned ruler for all eternity."

I hear Lucy utter in shock "C-c-child? I'm too young for kids Loke, I'm only 19. I still have yet to publish my novel. I can't have a child." I stare at the ground. _'What's so wrong with having kids?'_

"Not now but in the future, for now you only have to worry about learning from the dragons and having fun with the guild when you return." Loke says in a soft tone

After a moment of silence Loke says "But there is one thing that Draco told me to warn you of."

I smile when I hear Luce say in an aggravated voice "Stop beating around the bush Loke, you know I hate that."

The playboy sighs and says "When you return to Earthland you and Natsu can't tell anyone about the prophecy else every person with evil intentions will be after you and Natsu to get to the dragon realm, and your child, whenever you have them, will be extremely powerful."

 _'What the? We could seriously cause that much damage by telling our nakama about the prophecy?'_ I stand up when a gold light flashes through the door signifying that Loke has returned to the spirit world.

With all this running through my head I decide I'm too awake to go to bed so I walk back out to where we were meditating earlier and resume my position.

As I slow my breathing I let my fire take control as I think about everything that has happened these past few days. _'Kids with Luce wouldn't be bad but she is right about it being too soon, as for the prophecy could we at least tell Gramps?'_

I frown at the thought of Luce and I having to shoulder this alone. _'I don't know.'_ I'm so lost in thought that when someone says "You let your flames run wild like that for long and you won't be able to move tomorrow." I fall over and my flames quickly extinguish themselves.

"Dad don't do that." I growl as I sit up rubbing the back of my head. I didn't realize I had been focusing so hard that I had started levitating.

"Do what? Interrupt your thoughts or keep you from using up all your energy trying to melt the stone around you?" I look around and sure enough the stone around me has melted in a perfect circle.

"Ok I guess I deserved that I didn't realize I had let them get so out of hand, but I was really lost in my thoughts." I say as I stand up.

"What has you so caught up in that gigantic melon of yours anyway?" He says. I growl and swing at him but he just dodges it.

"It's nothing you have to worry about." I say as I sit back down in the crater and resume my position.

"Is it about what Lucy and Leo were talking about?"I crack open an eye and say "His name is Loke and how do you know about that?"

Dad grins and says "I hear everything that happens in my caves, and as for telling someone about the prophecy you just can't spout it off to someone you barely know, you can tell your master and your closest friends but that's it. You don't have to worry about the other dragon slayers they'll feel it when you're in close range to them."

I sigh and relax a bit but glare at Dad when he says "As for having a kid I would prefer to have several grandkids if you don't mind."

"Dad we are not having kids right now, we're both too young, and besides Luce still wants to travel the world to find other keys." I say with a sigh as I stand back. Before Dad says anything I say "Look I'm going to bed, seeing as I can't meditate anymore tonight."

When I reach my room I collapse into the bed grumbling about this or that before finally I nod off.

The next 4 weeks include getting up before the sun, eating a large breakfast, meditating an hour, practicing calling up our flames and manipulating it to form different shapes and such. Then Dad started teaching Luce how to use the spells.

At first she couldn't hold her roar for more than a few minutes but now she can hold it just as long as I can, then Dad started having us fight.

And that's what we're doing right now. I jump dodging a "Fire Dragon's Claw" and react with a "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist."

Luce lands where I was standing a second ago and has no time to dodge so she takes the hit and slides back a few feet smirking. "Natsu I told you not to hold back. I know you hit harder than that now stop being a chicken and hit me."

I frown not wanting to hurt her, then I look over at Dad and he nods so I ramp up the the flames around my fist and jump giving it my all. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist"

I land inches in front of her, creating a crater in the ground, and knocking her back. When I stand up I say "Now do you understand why I hold back when I fight, because even if the flames can't hurt you the amount of force behind it can. And I refuse to hurt you."

When Luce stands up I jump out of the crater and view the damage. The crater is about three feet deep and just as wide. Instead of being scared she smiles and says "Bring it I want to be able to do it just as well as you."

I frown and say "No Luce I won't hurt you." Before Luce says anything Dad says "I don't think you'll hurt her as bad as you think, just give it a go and after you finish this fight if you still disagree then you can pull your punches without a complaint but for right now show her what you can do."

I shrug and walk back to my starting point while Luce walks back to hers. When Dad barks "Go" I move first with a "Fire Dragon's Wing attack" Luce dodges and retaliates with a "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang".

Before she can move again I swing around with an elbow that hits her in the gut, she backs off a few feet and, smirking, does a "Fire Dragon's Grip strike."

I stand up and spit out some blood and grin. "Nice one Luce I didn't know you had mastered that one already." she grins back and says "Just did." Before she says anything else I move in and land a "Fire Dragon's Iron fist"

This time instead of hitting the ground I hit her and knock her down but she stands up again and says "So that's why enemies cry when you swing at them a second time, they can't take the pain."

Dad steps in and says "Well done Lucy, I do believe it's time I started teaching you two the more powerful spells, but for now go eat dinner and get some sleep."

We head to the cave and our rooms to change and then we meet up at the dinner table. Even though Luce has a bigger appetite now she still uses the manners she was taught when she was younger. Me on the other hand I dive in like there's no tomorrow.

"So Dad what exactly are you teaching us for the next two weeks?" I say after I finish of a chicken leg.

"Quite simple really, First I plan on teaching you two Demolition fist and Roar then if you master those fast enough I can teach you Dragon's Soul."

I pause thinking for a second before I say "Wait you are actually gonna teach us two moves that are solely taught to future kings?"

"Natsu, you baka, you are a future king." Luce says as she refills her plate. I grin and say "I'm fired up."

The next day Dad starts by saying "Now in order to understand Demolition Fist you start of with an Iron fist but you ramp up not only the flames but the heat as well. Observe."

We watch as Dad Lights his fist and starts with an Iron fist and just as he said he feeds the flames until the heat can be felt 30 feet away and then he yells "Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist"

When he punches the ground the crater he makes is twice as deep and and wider than the one I made yesterday.

He stands up and says "Your turn Natsu." I light my fist and slowly feed the flames until I can actually feel the heat licking up my shoulder. Then once they're hot enough I yell out "Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist." and strike the ground.

When I stand up Dad whistles saying "Wow, when my pop taught me I couldn't make a crater nowhere as big as his but yours is bigger than mine." True enough mine is about 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

I look at Luce and grinning say "Have fun matching that one." She scowls and walks a bit of a distance away before copying Dad and I and yelling out "Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist."

When she lands she makes a crate just as big as mine. Dad stares at her in shock while I grin saying "That's my Luce" Dad turns to me and says "Did you know she would do that?"

I shrug and say "Give any Fairy Tail mage the right stimulation and we can go beyond impossible."

Dad starts grinning and says "Well then I bet you can't do that 10 times in a row, both of you." And we spend the next few days putting craters all over the base of the volcano as we master the fist.

When it comes to the roar Dad says "Now this is just the simple roar only the power is amplified tenfold without ruining your vocal cords. What you do is gather the fire in your belly until it becomes painful and yell "Fire Dragon King's Roar" Understand?"

We nod and I start. I gather the fire and then say "Fire Dragon King's Roar" the roar is so powerful that it knocks off the tip off a dead volcano. Though when Luce does it she only manages to reach the mountain, not do any real damage.

Luce frowns and I say "Don't worry Luce you'll get it." She nods and says "I know but with only a week left until we go to Grandeeney I really wanted to learn Dragon's Soul."

Dad walks over and says "I'll tell you the secret of Dragon's Soul, there is no real practice for it."

We look at him in shock and he says "Dragon's Soul will only come to those who need it in their most dire situation. When I said that it takes a lot of energy I meant if you are not ready when you use it the spell can kill you. That's why not many know of it."

Luce gets a thoughtful expression but a few seconds later says "Thank you Igneel for telling us that, now I can focus on the roar." Before walking away.

"Dad why didn't you tell us earlier?" I say as I watch her walk away. Dad shrugs and says "Because I can tell the spell will come to you two but I didn't want you getting injured trying to use it."

I nod and we watch as Luce tries the King's roar again. That night after dinner when we head to our rooms I say "Hey Luce"

She turns to me and I say "Don't worry you'll get the hang of the roar." She nods before halting before her door and says "Hey Natsu could you sleep with me tonight?"

I raise an eyebrow and she says "Not like that, it's just I miss having your arms around me." I grin and say "Why didn't you say so earlier?" She turns away but I can see the blush.

I hug her and say "Luce, will you be my girl? I know I didn't get to ask you that day at the castle but I'm asking you now." She giggles and says "Why didn't you ask me sooner?"

I smile and say "Because either I was focusing on the lessons or I was distracted watching you move." she slaps my chest and I give her a pout.

"Come on we need to get some sleep." She says as she breaks the hug and opens the door for me to enter.

A week later and we're saying goodbye to Dad and we climb on Grandeeney's back to fly to her home on the Windy Planes.

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 **What did you think? Any Ideas for the others? Any spells you want to see done? Let me know.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Anybody recognize Dragon's Soul?**


	4. Grandine

**After not being able to work much on this one yesterday I honestly didn't think I would be able to finish this one in enough time to put it up, sorry if there's any errors I may have missed.**

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Chapter 4

Grandine

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

As we're flying over Fire Territory and into Windy Plains, I can't help but miss Igneel and his quirks. While we stayed with him, I quickly learned where Natsu got most of his quirks from.

I peel Natsu's arms off, ignoring his exclamation of protest, and slowly start to stand up. When I'm standing straight, I give Natsu a 'come and get me' grin and start working my way towards Grandine's head, careful to avoiding damaging any of her feathers.

It still surprises me, that while Igneel was completely covered in scales, Grandine is covered more in feathers, and what scales she has are softer, more compliant. When I look closely at one of her feathers, the center is white while the edges are a soft baby blue.

"What are you doing, Luce?"

I look back to see Natsu right at my shoulder. I give him a smile.

"I wanted to watch the landscape change."

He nods as Grandine explains,"It will take us about a day to reach my home, as we have to travel over Water and Lightning Territory, so while you watch pay attention to how the elements react to each other."

We look ahead, and sure enough, the volcanoes slowly disappear into a wide ocean.

"We're about to cross into water territory first, so beware the rain." She warns us.

When we look down, the lava rivers disappear into the water.

And then the rain hits us.

As we fly through, the rain will slow down and then pick up again, but the whole time we're in Water Territory, the rain doesn't stop.

A few hours later, we can finally see land ahead.

"You two need to sit down now we're about to go through Lightning Territory and if you stand you run the risk of getting hit." Grandine instructs us in a patient tone.

We quickly sit down in between her sweeping horns and watch as the ocean clashes with the land on the border of the two Territories. As we watch, lightning strikes somewhere every few minutes, allowing us to see under the darkened skies.

I lay my head on Natsu's shoulder and eventually fall asleep to the rhythm of Grandine's wings beating against the sky.

A little while later, Natsu is shaking me awake. "Luce, wake up. We're about to cross onto the Windy Plains, you may want to see this."

I lift my head and look down to see the ground go from dusty and dry to covered with tall grasses, and from where we're sitting on the sky dragon's back, we can see herds grazing in the distance.

But the view below isn't the most amazing thing about this border. No, it's the sky itself that holds our fascination. The sky fades from angry black to the brightest of white clouds, as we fly farther into the Windy Plains.

After another hour, Grandine descends saying, "Up ahead sits my burrow, where you'll be staying while you train with me."

After she lands, we walk off her tail to find a moderate cave opening but when you enter, there are steps dug out leading down for about thirty feet until you enter a brightly lit room.

When Grandine walks up behind us, she's wearing a white sundress with a baby blue trim and sash across the waist. "Let me show you to your rooms."

The sky dragon takes the lead, and guides us down a side hallway that is well lit and actually has a breeze blowing through. She stops about halfway down the hallway and turns toward two doors on the right hand side of the hall.

Just as with Igneel, the doors have a star and a flame engraved on them, telling the difference between my room and Natsu's.

When I open my door, instead of finding a room made of dirt, I find a room painted white with a bed and a trunk. Sitting on a table next to the bed, is the chest Igneel gave me to protect my keys while I'm training.

After I change into a light blue tank top and white shorts, I step out to find Natsu wearing light blue baggy shorts, and no shirt.

"Natsu, why aren't you wearing a shirt?" I ask, voice dripping with disapproval. I look down the hall instead of at his muscular chest.

"Luce, you're a weirdo." Is all he says as he walks by. I growl at him, but he just chuckles. "Come on, you don't scare me."

I leap forward and tackle him before getting up and sauntering off down the hall. When I hear him growl, in return I laugh and sidestep to avoid his arms.

"Alright, that's enough, you two. Are you here to train, or are you here to waste my time?"

We look up to see Grandine smirking at us.

"Forgive me, I am here to train, I'm not sure what this baka is here for." I say, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder, in Natsu's direction.

"You'll pay for that," Natsu growls, before turning to Grandine and saying, "I'm here to train, too."

Her smirk grows into a grin as she says, "Very well, then. Dinner is ready, and afterwards we'll start with the first step to becoming a sky dragon slayer."

When we walk into the main hall, we find a table is set up. But this time, instead of every food known to the universe, there are only small and light foods.

"Where's the meat? This is all vegetables." He grumbles, with an amusing pout.

As we sit down, Grandine explains.

"In order to train with the wind, you must not be weighed down, and food such as meat can produce opposite effects to what are desired. So, while you stay with me, you will only eat small amounts throughout the day."

Natsu just sits down and eats his meal in silence, ready for training to start. I watch him as he eats, but quickly look at my plate when he looks up.

After dinner, Grandine guides us outside.

"Assume your meditative positions." She instructs us.

I sit down, cross legged, and have the knuckles of my left hand line up with the knuckles of my right hand, and close my eyes, slowing my breathing.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As the two mages assume their positions, the sky dragon begins. "Now, feel how the air flows around you, how it moves through the grass, climbs any obstacle in its path. You'll feel a pull to join the currents, but you have to ignore it. Instead, you want to guide it; wind is not as stubborn as some of the other elements, you need only apply a little pressure to have it do what you want."

As she says this, the wind blowing across the clearing starts spinning around the two mages in mini tornadoes. Natsu's is a bit off balance, so Grandine advises calmly, "Natsu, don't be so forceful. Unlike with fire, wind doesn't need to be coaxed and prodded. Relax and it will listen to you."

Sure enough, once the mage hears this, his tornado evens out until it's flowing in sync with the one next to it.

"Now, I want you to think of the wind dying down, until it is once again flowing smoothly around you."

Natsu's tornado eventually disappears, but Lucy's starts to get out of hand. When Natsu opens his eyes and looks over, he murmurs quietly, "Luce, calm down, you getting upset isn't helping anything."

Lucy takes a deep breath and is able slow it down, but when her tornado dissipates she flinches as if she's been hit.

"Grandine, why did that hurt?" Lucy asks,as she looks up at the sky dragon.

Said dragon frowns. "Because you were trying to control the wind, not work with it."

Natsu stands up and asks, "Isn't that what we were supposed to do?"

Grandine shakes her head. "No, you can't control the winds, you can only guide and work with them. Trying to control the winds is like telling the tide not to rise, or the sun not to set, it isn't supposed to happen."

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I frown at her words but Luce says, "I understand. I'll try a different approach tomorrow."

Grandine nods. "Get some rest. If you're gonna learn how to work with the winds, then we have to start bright and early."

We get up and walk to our rooms, thinking over what the sky dragon said.

"Hey, Luce?" She hums in reply so I ask, "Mind if I sleep with you again?" The last part comes out as a whisper but I know she heard me. She does have the heightened senses, seeing as she's already learned one type of slaying magic.

She looks over at me with a smile, as she grabs the handle to her door. "Sure, Natsu, come on in." I grin and walk in before promptly collapsing on the bed and moving over so she has room to lie down.

I close my eyes, but I hear her as she moves around the room. The final thing she does before lying down, is murmur something, and then I hear a faint click. After another minute, I hear another click and then the bed dips from where she lies down next to me.

When she rolls over, I lean over and wrap my arms around her and pull her close. "I love you," I whisper, before falling asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.

The next thing I know, someone's pounding on the door yelling, "Hey, time to get up! The winds wait for no dragon."

I groan and grab onto Luce but she just chuckles. "Come on, sleepy head, we have to get to training, otherwise we'll never see our nakama again."

I frown at the thought of never being able to fight in another guild brawl and quickly get up. I go to my room to change, while Luce does the same, and then we walk to the food table. Again, seeing no meat, I growl in annoyance.

"I can't wait to learn these moves so that I can actually have some meat with my meals." I complain.

Grandine snorts. "Well, you're in luck, because today is the first of two weeks where you learn the support spells, then the last week is spent learning the attacks."

Luce stops eating and asks,"So, sky dragon-slayer magic is more about support then offense?"

Grandine shakes her head. "Not necessarily, but the support does make up a large portion of it."

"What's the big deal with that troia spell that Wendy uses, and why won't it work on me anymore?"

She looks at me and replies,"Ah, yes, I had forgotten that. You other elements have trouble with motion sickness. Troia is only helpful a handful of times, before your body becomes immune to it. There is hope, however, once you master troia yourself, you will no longer have motion sickness."

Luce looks up and says, "It makes sense why Wendy doesn't have motion sickness like the other slayers and you do."

Grandine nods. "Well, since you two are finished eating, we can go ahead and start with that spell first, though, supportive type magic isn't really about physical training."

We both watch, as the dragon stands and walks over to a bookshelf and pulls out several large books before saying, "The offensive moves are easy to learn, but it's the supportive that can't actually be taught, You have to read these and follow what they say."

I groan at the thought of reading, but Luce shoots me a reassuring grin."Don't worry, Natsu, I have a set of gale force reading glasses. After I read them, you can use the glasses to make it faster."

I grin back. "Yeah, you're right, it shouldn't take long, seeing as you're one of the smartest people I know, besides Levy."

Luce blushes, but quickly stands up and takes the books from Grandine, while the dragon states, "Once you read these, it should be easy to use the spells, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave you two alone for the day, as I have to fly to the capital for a meeting. Will you be okay by yourselves?"

"Don't worry, Grandine, we can take care of ourselves. Go to the meeting, we'll see you when you get back." Luce assures the dragon as she starts reading through the books. Grandine nods and walks out the cave entrance before quickly transforming and taking off towards the capital.

I walk outside and sit in my spot from yesterday so I can meditate again, and so I don't mess with Lucy's concentration.

As I close my eyes, and slow my breathing, I can see the thread the wind offers as a guide, and quickly grab hold of it. Like yesterday, I can feel the wind surround me, but I don't bother to do anything about it, instead, I get lost in my thoughts.

When my thoughts travel to how the guild is doing while we're away, I don't notice the whispers at first, but freeze when I recognize the steely voice that can only belong to a certain scary knight with red hair.

As I focus in, I can hear her say, "Gray, did you see where that beast came from?"

"Sorry, Erza, I was busy fighting my own battle."

I hear a sigh and then, "What are we gonna do? It took Natsu and Lucy."

I'm wondering why they're speaking like it happened recently.

"I don't know, Erza, but I think we need to get back to the guild and tell Gramps. He'll know what to do."

Then it clicks and I chuckle, thinking back to what Layla had said about time differences. _It's a shame I can't see them._ I think, as I listen to the silence between our teammates.

I'm startled out of my meditation when I hear, "Natsu Dragneel, get down here this instance!"

I open my eyes only to feel myself fall hard.

"Ouch, Luce, what was that for?" I whine,as I sit up, rubbing the back of my head.

"Want to tell me why you were floating ten feet off the ground?" She asks with a huff.

I look around and ask curiously, "I was?"

She nods before adding, "I finished the books, it's your turn. I left the glasses sitting on top in plain view."

I nod and stand up, stretching cramped muscles and ask,"How long were you reading?"

She shrugs. "Maybe two-hours, at most."

I nod and walk into the cave to go read the books, ready to get it over with. I sit down in front of the books and put on the glasses, scrunching my nose at the weird feeling and open up the first book.

An hour and a half later, I close the last book and heave a sigh of relief. "I am never doing that again, even if you bribe me." I say to myself, as I stretch and walk out of the cave to find Luce leaning against the edge of the cave, asleep.

When I walk over, she lazily lifts an eyelid before rubbing them and asking, "How long have you been finished?"

I shrug. "Not long, only a few minutes. Wanna try those supportive spells we read in a fight?"

She stands up and smirks. "Fine by me, but let's get a bit of distance from here, so we don't destroy the cave."

As we walk I get an idea and suggest,"Why don't you call out a few of your spirits for some fun as well, I'm always looking forward to a fight with Loke."

She nods and runs back to her room to retrieve her keys while I walk to one side of the practice field. When she returns, her keys are at her side and she's wearing a smirk.

First, she calls out Loke and Capricorn, her two best melee fighters, and says, "This is just for fun, we want to try out the new spells we learned. How do you guys feel about it?"

Loke smirks and cracks his knuckles. "This is gonna be fun, you ready Natsu?"

"What are we waiting for? Lady Lucy is ready to fight." Capricorn nods his affirmation.

Before I ignite my fist, I recall the lessons I had learned on self armor boost and chant, "Lle Amor, Lle Vernier, Lle arms."

Sure enough, as I say them, I can feel the boost flowing, just as if Wendy had done them. I look over to see Luce doing the same thing, as well as giving her spirits a boost using the 'Armor' spell.

As I watch her, I become confused, because Capricorn and Loke are melee fighters, so why not use the 'Arms' spell instead of 'Armor'?

When she moves, I move, using, "Fire Dragon's Iron fist" on Loke, but when I back away, Loke doesn't have a scratch. Then, I understand.

"So, you used 'Armor' so that my hits are less effective?" I guess,as I dodge a blow from Capricorn, only to fly back from an uppercut by her.

"Yeah, I'm surprised it took you that long to figure it out," she says as she jumps back.

I grin. "Let's see how you two do against this."

Just like Dad taught us, I ramp the flames and the heat up, and before the spirits can move, I'm swinging with, "Fire Dragon King's Demolition fist!"

"No fair, you're still holding back." Luce accuses me with a frown.

Loke looks at me in shock."That hit was 'holding back'?"

I shrug,and he shakes his head. "If that hit was holding back, I don't even want to know what full-out is like; you're gonna be even stronger than Erza when you get back to the guild."

"So, does that mean you give up, you chicken?" I challenge, staring at the lion spirit.

"Hell no, it just means this fight is about to be a bit more fun." He retorts with a grin.

When I look for Capricorn, I see him sparring with Luce, so I turn back to Loke and taunt, "What are you waiting for, you ginger-haired freak?"

He growls and leaps at me, saying, "Flame brain, I'm taking you down."

I duck to dodge his kick and give a sharp upper cut, catching him across the chin and forcing him back a few feet. When he stands up straight, he chuckles and wipes his chin with his hand. "You still hit like a girl."

I point over to Luce and raise an eyebrow. "That's fine, because it looks like that girl just beat Capricorn." When Loke looks over, his jaw drops when he sees Capricorn going back to the spirit realm and Luce cracking her knuckles, walking over to us.

"Nice job, Luce, how did you finish that fight so fast?" I ask,when she gets close enough.

She grins."He leaves his back wide open when he kicks." I nod and advance towards Loke, while Luce watches.

After another hour of trading blows, Loke holds up his hand and says, "You win this time, Flame brain, but next time you're going down," before going back to the spirit realm.

After he disappears, I huff and Luce laughs. "I'm glad I didn't fight Loke, he looked like he was actually out for blood." I shrug and walk back to the cave, with Luce trailing behind.

"I'm gonna go to bed, see you tomorrow." I say, as I turn down the hall towards our rooms. She nods and sits back down at the table to read some more.

When I reach Luce's room, I walk to the bed and fall in, quickly falling asleep, and choosing to ignore my hunger, for once in my life, and just think about what I heard in the wind.

Over the next week and a half, Grandine teaches us the more offensive spells, and every day we manage to master a new spell, until there's only a few days left before we leave with Metalicana, and there's only one spell left to learn.

"Now that you've mastered the basic spells, it's about time I teach the Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill."

I look at Luce and ask, "Isn't that what Wendy used at the Grand Magic Games to bring her fight to a draw?"

Luce nods and Grandine says, "So that means she's received the notes I left with Porlyusica for her." Luce nods again and Grandine moves onto the lesson.

"For this one, you want to move into a wide stance, spreading your arms wide and causing a fast wind barrier to form, which surrounds you and your opponent and prevents either from escaping. Then, move your arms in a counterclockwise direction, causing the wind wall to contract inwards around your opposition, sending them flying upwards into the air and crashing back down to the ground." The sky dragon demonstrates this, as she explains the move to us.

When she repeats the motions, Luce and I follow suit, until Grandine says, "Now that you have the movements down, complete the spell. The other is your opponent. Natsu, you're up first."

I nod and turn towards Luce, who turns towards me. I spread my arms wide and a few minutes later Luce is picking herself up off the ground, grumbling,"Did you have to hit that hard?"

I frown and say apologetically, "Sorry, Luce, I don't think you can pull off a spell like that."

Grandine snorts. "Of course not, this is a secret art, not a roar, claw, or wing attack. The amount of force behind it depends on the strength of the mage or dragon wielding the spell."

Luce nods and gets into position, quickly locking me in the barrier before I can say anything. When the spell hits me, it feels like Motherglare crashed me into the eclipse gate instead of the other way around.

When I stand I groan, "We definitely know who's the strongest wizard, ugh, remind me never to truly piss you off again."

Luce smiles but walks over and quickly heals the worse of my injuries before Grandine says, "Congratulations, you have learned everything I can teach you, so until Metalicana picks you up the day after tomorrow you're free to do what you want."

I raise my fist in the air yelling, "Yosh!" before grabbing Luce and hugging her.

Luce laughs. "Come on, I'm hungry."

After we eat, Luce walks down the hall to get a shower while I walk into my room to get some sleep.

With nothing much to do for the next day and half, I go back to meditating, hoping I can pick up those whispers I heard that day.

Sure enough, when I focus, I can soon hear Erza speaking to an old man. "Master, we don't know what happened to Natsu and Lucy. We were fighting the mages, when a dragon appeared out of nowhere and picked them up."

A sigh. "Very well, Erza, thank you for telling me. Send out groups to search the area where you fought the mages. Maybe we can find out where the dragon is living, and hopefully we can find them alive."

"Yes, Master."

I'm again snapped out of my concentration when Luce yells, "Natsu, let's go, Metalicana is here!"

I jump up from where I fell."Yeah, I'm coming." I walk over to the metal dragon and taunt him. "Hey, Metalicana, is it just me or are your scales starting to rust?"

Metalicana huffs, "Get on, before I decide to carry you by your scarf."

I laugh and jump up, getting comfortable, while Luce comes running out, fastening her keys to her belt saying, "Sorry, Metalicana, I had to find my whip."

"Well, stop chatting, Luce, and let's go. I want to start training as soon as possible so I can kick Metalhead's ass when we get back." I grin, giving her a hand up.

Once she's situated, Metalicana doesn't give a warning, but takes off flying towards metal territory.

* * *

 **I'm sorry if you don't like the skipping but I can only think of some much to write for a certain time period. Any Ideas for Metalicana?**

 **I have to thank _Bluedog197_ for the idea of using the light and airy foods, oh and Blue? I know Luce didn't destroy anything in this chapter but next chapter is still waiting to be written. ;)**

 **Reviews people. I need the reviews. Hell even flames are welcome.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. No clue :)**

 **New A/N**

 **Edited 12/20/2016 by xSteleAliniax.**


	5. Metalicana

**Guys I am so sorry this is a bit late, when I had to stay home that day last week it threw me off my writing game but I give you Chapter 5.**

* * *

Chapter 5

Metalicana

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Once she's situated, Metalicana doesn't give a warning, but takes off flying towards metal territory. When he reaches a steady altitude he says, "It won't take long to get to my iron mine, so why don't you enjoy the view?"

Luce stands up first and I follow suit. While she looks around, I study Metalicana's scales. They're a darkish gray, and while they look smooth at a distance, they're actually covered in bumps and dimples.

When I look up, I notice we are no longer over the Windy Plains, instead, we're flying over rocky mountain territory. While Fire Territory had been dimly lit by the fires and the lava that flowed, these mountains are lit by the sunshine, and the bare gray rock is well noticed.

On almost every mountain we pass, I can see cave openings. Some have different colored dragons lounging out front, while others are silent and have grass growing in front, unused for who knows how long.

It's less than an hour before Metalicana is landing in a cave at the top of a mountain; the cave's entrance is quite large in comparison to the others in the neighboring mountains. When I walk out, I see about fifty feet of ground before the straight drop to the bottom of the mountain.

I turn and walk back inside to see the cave walls spattered with shining ore, the veins shining with a difference compared to the normal stone around it.

"The ore veins you see aren't the best, or the tastiest, but they do look good when the light hits them." The metal dragon explains as he walks over, dressed in the same suit as I saw him in the first time.

"What about the metal that is mined for use?" Luce asks curiously,as she walks up to where I'm standing.

Metalicana chuckles and states, "Those mines are a bit closer to the capital, actually, right along the border. That's where the best ore is often found, metal dragons only choose a cave that has a metal they like, but either it isn't of the best quality, or they need it for their way of life."

I cock my head at him, and he continues his explanation. "Not all metal dragons are in the same profession, many create their own, but there're some that choose not to bother with the capital and live their life having minimal contact with other living beings, besides their dinner of course. Those dragons often prefer to stay in the dragon realm instead of traveling between."

"And, you're talking about when the portals are open?" I guess,after he finishes his explanation.

He nods before turning and walking further into the cave."Lunch is ready, if you would like to eat, I would imagine you want something hearty after a month of eating that air that Grandine calls 'food'."

I follow him and ask,"How did you know?"

He chuckles. "The reason why Fire and Metal dragons fight so often is because we have more in common then you would think: both elements are very destructive, meaning they take more energy, therefore leaving you hungrier."

I stop and ask incredulously, "So, that's why Metalhead and I fight all the time?"

He nods in affirmation. "After you eat, we can start your training, but be warned, just as you did with Grandine, you will be learning the support magic first and the offensive later."

"So, we're gonna be spending a day reading books again?" I whine and Metalicana shakes his head

"No, that was only with sky magic. For Iron magic, you will be doing physical training."

I crack my knuckles. "Then let's go, I can't wait!"

He guides us into a smaller room off the main cavern where the dining room sits. As with the main cavern, the metal veins can be seen glinting off the torches.

I quickly dive in while Luce makes her plate, but look up when Metalicana doesn't eat and I ask,"How come you're not eating?"

He shakes his head and states, "I had a big meal before I picked you up, so I won't need to eat for a few more days."

I nod but Luce inquires curiously,"Why?"

I swallow my food quickly and reply. "When dragons eat in their true forms, they don't need to eat for sometime after, it helps in battle or if they're traveling in an area that doesn't have much to offer. When Dad and I would travel, he would eat before we left and only catch enough throughout the journey to keep me from complaining."

Metalicana nods and adds, "Depending on how much we eat before, it can sometimes be up to two weeks before we need to eat again." Luce nods and goes back to eating.

After lunch, Metalicana guides us out to the clearing outside the cave before instructing, "With Iron magic, there is no need to meditate, as Iron is completely physical, so first we'll start with covering your body with scales."

He holds out an arm and gray/black scales shoot across. "Your scales will reflect your personality, so don't be alarmed if they are a different color than what you see. Now, focus on hardening the skin of your arm, it may take a few tries but once the scales start appearing they'll return with ease."

As I think about the skin of my arms becoming thicker, he says, "Imagine your skin is harder then the hardest material you can think of. A good example of this is diamond, solid carbon is one of the strongest materials known to dragonkind."

Come on, make my skin harder than diamond, hard enough where even a bite from Motherglare can't break through. Then thoughts of Luce break through, but as I go to wipe them away, Metalicana voices his approval.

"Very good, Natsu, now focus on drawing the scales down your arms."

I look at my arms and sure enough, flame red scales cover my shoulders and are slowly working their way down towards my hands. When I look over at Luce, she has the beginning of gold scales covering her shoulders but they keep fading.

Once my scales cover my wrist, I stop and watch Luce as Metalicana says, "Excellent, now, draw the scales down your arms, Lucy." Luce tries to do so but her scales refuse to move.

After struggling for a little while longer, she finally gets them down her arms and over her wrists.

Metalicana says, "Since you both now have the ability to call your scales, you will required to keep them up at all times while you are here. Once you finish your training with me, you can let them fade."

We nod, and when he walks back in the cave Lucy grumbles tiredly, "That was harder than it looks."

I nod and walk over to her."You looked like you were struggling for a bit." She nods and goes to take a step forward but ends up almost falling instead.

I catch her before she hits the ground and she sighs. "Mind helping me back to my room? My legs won't listen to reason."

I frown but but let her lean on me as we walk to our rooms. "You sure you're okay, Luce? I ask with concern,for the third time since we started walkIng.

She nods and replies,"I'll be fine, as long as I can get some rest. Calling up the scales took a lot out of me, I'm surprised you're not falling over from exhaustion yourself. You look ready to take on an army by yourself."

I grin and reply, "To tell you the truth, I'm as tired as you." She looks at me in surprise and I continue."I may not look it, but trust me, I get tired, too."

She nods and when we get to our rooms, we split up to change and get some sleep to prepare for tomorrow.

The next day approaches faster then I want, but soon I'm getting up and walking out for breakfast. Luce is already at the table, digging in, while Metalicana is nowhere to be seen.

"Morning, Luce" she waves a scale covered hand in reply before returning to her food.

I quickly join her, not even bothering with a plate and just grab a bowl to pile food in before sitting next to her to eat.

After breakfast, we meet Metalicana in the main cavern for our second lesson.

"Right, the first attack you're learning is the most basic attack in the iron dragon's arsenal. Iron Dragon's club"

When he says this, his fist forms into a solid club of iron around four inches in diameter, and about as long as his arm was originally. Then, he swings his arm around and slams it on the ground. "You want to mold your arm into the shape that is required. Saying the spell, as well, helps your body understand what you want it to do."

After he steps to the side, I hold my arm out and have the scales reform, until my arm partially looks like a club. "Iron Dragon's Club!" I yell, swinging it around before slamming it into the ground.

I look over when I hear a yelp, to see Luce rubbing her wrist and frowning. I straighten up and ask,"What's wrong?"

She mutters something, and Metalicana says, "Don't worry, Lucy, that happened my first time, as well. It just takes a bit of practice before you get it."

Lucy nods, and we repeat the practice until I'm able to form the club without much thought, but Lucy on the other hand...

"Ugh, I'm never gonna get this." I look over at where she's rubbing her hand in frustration.

"It's not really about focus, it's more about what you want your body to do. Relax, don't try to fight the change."

Metalicana had disappeared inside the cave sometime ago, leaving us to practice, so I take a seat on the ground while Luce tries the club again.

As she's swinging her fist towards the ground I growl, "Stop, now you're hitting the ground with your fist. You have to relax and you being frustrated isn't helping matters."

She frowns. "I don't know what it is, but this is so much more frustrating for me then learning sky or fire magic."

I grin. "How do you think I felt when I was learning the sky support magic? And to think we still have eight more dragons to learn from." I muse thoughtfully.

Luce smiles and asks, "When did you become so smart?"

I give her a serious look. "I've always been smart, I just choose not to show it. Makes people happier that way, and besides, my slaying magic is a big part of me. Where would you be if you didn't have your keys?"

Luce pauses for a second. "You're right. I guess I always thought you're as dense as the others think you are, but I should know better by now."

I grin and decide to change topics. "Enough of this, use me as your target." Jumping up, I stand in a defensive pose, while she gathers her wits, but before she swings I add, "Remember you have to be relaxed, you can't force the transitions."

She nods, and as she swings she yells, "Iron Dragon's Club!" The next thing I know, I'm picking myself up out of the crater inside the cave.

"Natsu, are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

I just grin as she runs over and turn when I hear a whistle.

"Damn, for a woman you sure can hit hard."

Luce scowls. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Metalicana holds his hands up in front of him. "No offense, it's just when dragonesses learn the moves, their hits tend to be much weaker than the drakes, so as drakes grow up they learn to be extremely protective of the females."

Luce frowns and I explain quickly, "A male dragon is commonly referred to as a 'drake' while a female is known as a dragoness."

"Still, you are much stronger than I thought you would be, so we may be able to finish your lessons much earlier than planned. Although, we will still be training day in and day out." He says, as he walks forward to assess the damage to the wall.

"Then, what are we waiting for? I'm all fired up!" I turn to walk back outside, but Luce says,

"It would be nice to see our friends sooner, but I also don't want to rush our training and end up messing up a spell."

I pause and frown, but Metalicana says, "There's no need to worry about that, you'll still master the spells. I just meant that, since you can already pack a punch, I won't have to take a week assessing and working up your powers."

Luce smiles and I ask cheekily, "What do you think, Luce? Ready to do some hard core training?"

Her smile turns into a grin and and she repeats my words."I'm all fired up!"

True to his word, Metalicana has us on a strict training schedule. Every morning we eat a large breakfast, and then we meet outside the cave, where he instructs us on the spell we're learning for the day.

Everyday, we're able to master a new spell, but he doesn't push it past one spell a day. So, once he shows us, we practice until we're able to form the weapon, and then Luce and I fight for a few hours. At sundown we enter the cave and eat dinner before collapsing into bed, too tired to do anything else.

A week later,we've already mastered Kunai, sword, roar, hard fist, and the lance, and while we're at breakfast, Metalicana says, "Today, be on your toes, because if you master these next four spells in the next week, then you'll be moving on to the light and shadow dragons early."

Luce looks up from her food and asks, "So, we only have four more spells to learn?"

He nods, but I stare at him and ask suspiciously, "Spill it, metal breath, what are you not telling us?"

He looks back at me as he explains. "The next four spells are the secret arts, the most difficult of spells for a metal dragon to learn."

I grin and say, "Then it'll be easy! I mean, we learned the basics within a week, so it won't take much longer to learn these."

He shakes his head and goes back to eating, not bothering to reply.

After breakfast, we're outside the cave, and Metalicana begins our next lesson."The first spell you're learning is: 'Karma Demon: Iron God Sword.' This spell can be a bit tricky. What you want to do is clap your hands together above your head, creating a gigantic iron sword."

I look at him in confusion and ask, "So, then, what's so tricky about it?"

"When you form the sword, if your weight is not evenly distributed then you will be thrown off and the spell wasted. Now, begin." He says and steps off to one side.

Just as he said, the first few times we do the spell we're thrown off balance, just by how heavy the sword is, but after about five tries, I'm able to successfully complete the spell, with Luce not a step behind.

By the time Metalicana is satisfied with our performance, it's past sundown, so he says, "Excellent work today, since you pushed so hard to complete that spell, I'm giving you the day off tomorrow."

Me and Luce share a look and we shake our heads. "No, thanks, tomorrow we'll be out here bright and early to learn the next spell." Instead of shock as we expected, he nods.

"What else should be expected of the prince and princess..." Are his last words as he disappears inside the cave. Once he's out of sight, I fall face first into the ground, sighing.

"What's the matter, Natsu?" I turn my head to see Luce sitting near my head, picking at the hem of her shorts.

"What do you think, Luce? I'm exhausted, but I want to finish up these spells."

She pets my head for a few seconds before saying, "What is this really about? I know at first you said so you could beat Gajeel, but what is it really?"

I sit up and look away, not wanting to answer. Luce just huffs, but when she stands up to go inside, I grab her wrist. When she looks at me, I take a deep breath and say, "I can't help wondering, if we're actually the ones who are gonna free the dragons."

Her expression softens, and she sits back down in front of me. "Natsu, even if it may not look like it now, we can and will free them. Dragons will return to Earthland. How often do you tell me not to lose hope?"

I grumble and she sighs, "Look, Natsu, you don't have to worry, we will figure this out. But for now, don't lose hope. Now, can we please go get something to eat and get to sleep? It's getting late and we do have to get up early tomorrow."

I stand and help her up before walking into the cave, and wondering what will happen over the next few days.

 **~Three Days later~ Lucy P.O.V.**

"Eh, whoa, watch it, you twerp! You're not trying to kill, remember?"

I grin as I watch Natsu and Metalicana go at it in a sparring match.

"Then, maybe you should move a little faster, Metal breath." I can tell Natsu is getting pissed, because he hasn't been able to land a hit on the metal dragon yet, so I step up and tap him on the shoulder.

He looks back at me and grins before stepping back and letting me take over. I crack my knuckles and I can see Metalicana gulp. We've already been through this dance a few times before, and when I step in, he knows shit is getting serious.

"Iron Dragon's Club!" I yell, as I jump forward, and when he ducks, I swing the club around, therefore positioning myself to where I land on my feet and still manage to smack him.

He grumbles and yells, "Iron Dragon's throwing knives!" My scales shoot out to cover not only my arms, as they have been since we got here, but also the rest of me as well.

I look down when something gold flashes by my eye to see a lock of my hair fall to the ground and my eye twitches. I growl and jump yelling, "Iron Dragon's Roar!" The attack hits him head on, and when the dust clears he's holding a white flag.

"Alright, alright, you twerps win. I'll teach you the final move."

I grin and Natsu cheers.

"Is that what that entire fight was about?"

We turn to see Grandine and Igneel standing on the edge of the clearing.

I nod and Natsu explains, "He refused to teach us the final move we need to learn unless we beat him in a fight."

Igneel looks at Metalicana in surprise while Grandine scowls. "You heard the queen's order just as well as we did, you should know better."

Metalicana looks at his wrist and says, "Look at the time, I gotta run. I'll meet you twerps here tomorrow morning for the final lesson. Until then, you have the rest of the day off."

He jumps off the ledge but appears not a minute later flying between the mountains in the direction of the capital. Grandine and Igneel follow his example, but after the sky dragon says, "It was good to see you again."

Igneel walks to the edge, then turns around and gives us a salute, grinning, before falling off backwards and following the others.

Natsu chuckles and I look over asking, "What's so funny?"

He points to the dragons. "Leave it to Dad to pull off a trick like that. It takes at least thirty seconds to completely transform, and then it takes time to right one's self after falling backwards like that. Unless he figured out how to fly upside down, wouldn't surprise me if the old coot figured it out."

I frown and ask, "Hey, Natsu, how do you know so much about how a dragon does anything? I mean, I know you grew up with him, but how do you know all this extra information?"

Natsu has a genuine smile on his face when he says, "I'm not a dragon myself, but during the time Dad and I spent together, while I was growing up, he would tell me a lot about dragons. Even though some of it is a bit embarrassing..."

I nod, and as I turn to walk back inside, I yelp when he picks me up saying, "There is one thing he taught me that I know for sure." I look at him in confusion and he continues."Lucy. you are my mate, and this love I have for you will never go away, so will you let me make you mine?"

Before I can answer, he kisses me and it leaves me flustered. I look down and say, "I love you, too, Natsu, but I don't know if I want to take it that far yet. In the future, definitely, but is it okay if we wait?"

I look up to see him smiling gently at me and he says, "Sure, Luce, I'll wait forever if I have to, to make sure you're comfortable."

He pulls away a bit but says, "There's something I want to show you." Then he pulls me back into the clearing where he sits and says, "Remember, back on the Windy Plains, when I would meditate and end up floating in the air?"

I sit in front of him and say, "Yeah, what about it? I just thought you were trying to fly away with the wind."

He shakes his head. "When I focus hard enough, I can hear the voices of the guild as the winds sweep by."

"Are you sure it's the guild and not another dragon?"

He looks at me and says, "I would know our nakama's voices anywhere. But that's not why I'm telling you this, I know you're missing the guild as much as I am, so I'm wondering if I can strengthen the bond enough to hear more if we both try."

I look at my hands and shrug, "If you're positive about this, then I don't see why we can't try."

He scoots close until our knees are touching. "Give me your hands, and then focus on the winds." I nod and he takes my hands loosely.

I close my eyes and slow my breathing, quickly picking up on how he's guiding the winds around us as they pick up, going faster and faster. When he lets go of guiding the wind, I take over, making sure to keep the pace he set.

Soon, I can hear voices and as the voices clear up, I take a sharp breath because I can hear Mira saying, "Master, it'll be okay, we'll find them.

A sigh and, "I know, Mira, but it's disheartening to know that the dragon has just vanished into thin air." I open my eyes a bit and am surprised to find myself back in Master's office.

I look down but immediately know they won't be able to see me. I look over at Master to see him hiding tears as Mira walks away. I move forward and can see the curtains move even though the window is closed.

Then a plan forms in my head, and frowning in concentration, I swing my hand until I'm able to knock some papers down off his desk. Master freezes and I repeat the action until laid out on the floor spelled out in sheets is:

 _Master_

Master mutters,"What the?" I move the papers again and manage to knock the ink over so before it dries I quickly spell out:

 _Natsu and I are safe, don't worry about the dragon. When we return, we will explain, but for now, no one else can know._

"Lucy, where are you?" He asks, after reading the message, but before I can do anything more I can feel myself being pulled away. I close my eyes, and when I open them again I'm sitting in front of Natsu, who has a frown on his face.

"Lucy, how did you do that? I couldn't see what was going on but I heard. How were you able to make yourself known?"

I shake my head, not knowing myself. "I managed to create a bit of wind and knock over a few things to leave a message."

I look up at the horizon, surprised that the sun has set so low while we were at the guild. Natsu runs his hand through his hair and says, "We'll figure this out later, but for right now, it's dinner and I'm hungry."

With a scowl I stand up and follow him inside to eat before going to bed.

The next day, we're up bright and early while Metalicana is explaining, "To learn the steel dragon's sword, you need to absorb carbon in large quantities, therefore reacting with the iron and turning your body to steel. After that, all you need to do is form the sword. It's rather easy, in fact, but you can't do it unless you have the carbon."

He walks into the cave and returns with two bags. "Fortunately, I have solid carbon right here for you two to practice with." He opens the bags to reveal a bunch of diamonds and coal.

"Metalicana, why would we eat diamonds?" I ask,as I look at the bag of diamonds, but he waves his hand.

"No worries, these are specifically cut to munch on. As for the coal, you can eat it any way you want."

Natsu grins, grabbing a large chunk, and turns to me, "Hey, Luce, mind igniting this for me?" I nod and he tosses it into the air, where I throw a fireball, igniting it. When it's on its return to earth, Natsu catches it in his mouth,chewing it before saying, "Where did you find this coal? It's amazing."

Metalicana looks at him and asks in return, "Why do you think I flew off with Igneel yesterday? He knows the best places to find the good tasting stuff. See, I prefer the diamonds myself, but I figured you may want coal instead, so..."

He shrugs, while Natsu keeps eating the coal, sometimes having me light a piece, or just popping pieces into his mouth.

I grab a diamond and a piece of coal, trying both, before digging in as well.

After the bags are gone, steel form quickly takes over and then we're mastering the final spell.

After the carbon wears off, Metalicana says, "Congratulations, you've completed your training as an Iron dragon slayer."

Natsu grabs me up in a hug saying, "Did you hear that, Luce? We did it! Now onto Weisslogia and Skiadrum."

I laugh and give him a kiss before saying, "Yes, time to go play with the light and the shadows."

The next day arrives faster than I know, and I'm climbing on Skiadrum's back while Natsu is messing around with Weisslogia.

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 **Again I'm so sorry this is a few hours late but don't worry I'm getting back on top of things in a few days I should be back on top and have the right chapters to drop at the right times. But what did you think? Did you like it? Let me know in the reviews.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Thank you all who have Favorited and followed this story as well as my others, it's amazing to see that guys like them so much and for that I will keep writing.**

 **New A/N**

 **Edited 12/20/2016 by xSteleAliniax**


	6. Skiadrum and Weisslogia

**Guys I'm sorry this took so long to drop but I didn't expect it to be so hard to write about the light and shadow dragons. Leave the reviews and let me know what you think.**

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Chapter 6

Weisslogia and Skiadrum

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After Natsu finally settles on Weisslogia's back the twin dragons take off and head towards their shared home. As we fly Weisslogia says "Lucy, Natsu you should know that we don't often call each other by our names."

I tilt my head and say "What do you mean?" Weisslogia turns his head back and says "We use our nicknames. Mine is Light and dunderhead's is Shadow."

Skiadrum snorts and says "You may call me Skiadrum or Shadow it doesn't matter." I nod then remember that he can't see me so I say "Thank you."

Then I stand up and look over to see Natsu playing with Light's horns. "Natsu what do you think you're doing?"

He grins when Light wobbles a bit and says "I didn't know he was ticklish." I shake my head and Shadow says "Never mess with a dragon while they're in the air, you never know what will happen."

Without warning Weisslogia folds his wings and barrel rolls and I can hear Natsu yell out "Oh shit." Before watching him fall, Skiadrum sees this and says "Hold on Lucy."

Quickly folding his wings he follows after the light dragon and catches Natsu while Light straightens out. I smack Natsu in the back of the head and say "Baka didn't you hear what Skiadrum said?"

While he rubs the back of his head he says "Sorry Luce I didn't know he was gonna roll like that." I snort and walk up to sit in between Skiadrum's horns.

A few hours later and we're flying over a forest towards a clearing. In the clearing a stream can be seen moving through while hidden in the trees is a large treehouse.

When Skiadrum lands he says "This is where you two will be staying while you train." I look around while Natsu says "Why doesn't it smell like you two? Isn't this your home?"

Light walks up in his human form, while Skiadrum changes form, and says "We don't have one home. We're nomadic."

I nod but Natsu says "What does that have to do with anything?" I look at my boyfriend and say "Being nomadic means that they travel at certain times throughout the year and my guess is that they recently moved here while they teach us."

Weisslogia stares at me and he says "For a female you are very astute."

With a frown I look at him and say "What's that supposed to mean?" Natsu chuckles and says "Just a tip she isn't dumb in fact she's the smart one when between us and when you talk down about her she tends to get mad."

Skiadrum steps in and says "Forgive him he's an idiot around others, that's why we travel so he can't get into much trouble."

I look at the shadow dragon and say "So who are we training with first and when do we start?"

Skiadrum grins and says "In order to get up to the house you must master fading into the shadows so naturally you'll be starting with me while Light tends to matters in the Capital. You'll see him a few times throughout the weeks you train with me but when it comes time we will be reversing roles meaning I fly to the Capital while he teaches you."

I nod and Natsu says "I'm fired up." Light smiles before climbing a tree to watch and take a nap as Shadow says "Assume your meditative positions."

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As the mages assume their positions Skiadrum says "Focus on the shadows around you, feel the darkness calling to you. As it crawls up your arms don't panic let it overtake you. When the darkness tries to take your sanity take control."

Even as he says this the shadows around the trees start moving on their own and gathering around the mages.

The shadows start to crawl up licking up their back and limbs like fire but the shadows around Natsu stop and start moving erratically so the shadow dragon says "Calm down Natsu don't let the shadows take control you are stronger than they are."

The shadows covering Natsu calm down and eventually continue their path up until they gather around his neck but are stopped when a spell written in an ancient language appears in a golden band.

Skiadrum sees this and says "Hold the shadows where they are at and do not break your focus."

Before walking quietly to the tree Weisslogia is sitting in and watching the lesson from. Light jumps down, as Shadow approaches, and says quietly "Is that what I think it is?" Shadow nods and says "I can't finish the lesson until it is removed so I need you, brother, to take him to the spring while I train her."

Light nods and Shadow turns back and says "Dissipate the shadows around you for today and we will pick up this lesson later."

The shadows quickly dissipate and then both mages stand up and look at Shadow with questioning gazes.

Light walks up and says "Natsu something has come up and I need you to travel with me. Lucy, you will stay here and continue your training. We won't be gone long only a day or two."

They don't ask questions and instead nod before Natsu walks over to Light. The light dragon quickly changes form and Natsu climbs on before taking off and heading to the east while Shadow resumes their lesson with Lucy.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I don't know what's going on, but what I do know is that the twin dragons are worried about something.

I stand and walk towards Weisslogia's horns before saying "What's going Light?" Light shakes his head softly making sure not to knock me off and says "I'll explain once we get to where we're going."

I sit down in between his horns as quiet reins for a few hours when he says "Why don't you tell me how your training was going before we took off."

I raise an eyebrow at the question but say "It was going ok as the shadows took over but once Shadow told me to calm down and the shadows started rising again it became harder and harder to rise past my neck until they stopped completely and that's when Shadow said that training was over and that I had to go with you."

The light dragon rumbles but his wings beat faster as we speed over the different territories. After about 5 hours and just as the sun is touching the horizon Weisslogia slows down and starts descending.

Once we land he says "We'll sleep tonight and I'll explain everything to you tomorrow." I nod and follow as he leads the way towards a cave on one side of a circular spring, where we settle for the night.

The next day when I get up Light is already up and is sitting and staring at the flames of a small fire. He looks up and says "Good you're up. There is something I must ask you and you have to be completely truthful."

I stare at him in confusion and he says "Have you come in contact with Zeref?" I scratch the back of my head and say "There was that time on Tenrou when he changed my scarf but Wendy fixed it, other then that not that I know of."

He nods and says "The reason why you had trouble working with the shadows is because of Zeref. There is a sealing spell on you that was placed there by the black mage and in order to remove it and whatever it is hiding I have brought you here."

I stand and look around as he says "This spring is known as the spring of balance, it is capable of removing any spell any darkness that should not be. I have a hunch about what the darkness is inside of you but in order to confirm it.."

When I turn around he looks at me with sadness in his eyes while he says "I need to remove the seal."

"What is wrong with removing the seal?"

He shakes his head and says "In order to solve the problem, once I remove the seal you have to submerse yourself in the spring. The only problem is I don't know how soon the change will take over."

Still not understanding what he's getting at but wanting to get back to training I say "Then what are you waiting for? Remove this seal, and lets get this over with."

He nods and walks over to me before looking me in the eye and holding his hands over my shoulders he mutters a spell. After the spell is pronounced I feel a burning sensation around my neck and then pain all over.

Through the pain I hear Light say "Quickly into the spring." Ignoring the feeling of wanting to curl up in a ball I manage to drag myself to the spring and fall in.

As soon as I enter the water the pain intensifies but dissipates soon after. While I float there I see images flash across my mind that are not my own, and soon even those fade until I feel nothing.

Then I feel myself falling and when I open my eyes I'm falling through down a black hole. There is no bottom to the hole, so I just keep falling into the darkness.

The darkness is almost whole until golden beams of light flash through, small little beams so fast at first that I think I imagined it, then I hear it. I here her. "Natsu."

At the sound of my name the gold flashes expand until there is no more darkness, and standing in front of me is my goddess, my falling star. I start walking to her and soon I can hear other sounds, the wind blowing through the trees, the birds singing their songs and then my falling star's voice.

"Natsu wake up please, you have to wake up." This time when I open my eyes to see Luce leaning over me. "Luce what happened? How did I end up here?"

She shakes her head and gives me a hug before helping me to sit up. I look around and realize we're in the treehouse back in the clearing.

"How about you tell me what happened Natsu. All I know is that Light brought you back here and you were unconscious, he won't tell me anything. You know you've been out for a week already?" she says as she crosses her arms clearly pissed about being kept out of the loop.

My eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and I say "Did you say a week?" She nods as Light and Shadow walk in.

"Oh good you're awake I didn't expect you to be unconscious for so long." Light says as he plops down in a chair while Shadow leans against the door frame.

"Light can you please tell us what's going on now?" Luce is practically begging at this point but I say "Light what exactly happened?"

He runs his hand through his hair before saying "Do you remember me asking you if you had come in contact with Zeref?" Luce tenses and I nod.

"Well the reason why I ask is because the seal I removed from you released a demon that was stored in you."

I freeze and Shadow says "Sometime in your past, we don't know when, you came in contact with Zeref before Tenrou and he instilled a demon in you."

Light nods and says "The reason why I brought you to the spring is because the spring is the only thing in Earthland or the Dragon realm that is able to remove all influence of one of his demons."

I shake my head and say "I still don't understand what this means for me. The only time I remember talking to Zeref is on Tenrou and that was only long enough to protect two of our nakama from a spell before I went off to find a member of Grimoire Heart."

"Just because you don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen so when Light returned with you I flew to the Capital to talk to Celeste, The Queen, and your father." Shadow says quietly.

I stare at him and say "What does my father have to do with this?" Shadow shakes his head and says "You have to talk to him yourself to find out, I promised I wouldn't tell."

"What does the celestial dragon have to do with any of this?" Luce finally says after having been quiet for the last few minutes.

"The celestial dragon is the only dragon that can access any information in the realms, so we went to her for answers." Luce nods and I say "So what does that mean for now?"

Light and Shadow smile and say "You've been cured you are now solely human and Zeref will have no control over you, from now on all you have to worry about is your training. As for right now you're probably starving so there is some food waiting down in the clearing for you so we can continue training."

I grin and stand saying "What are we waiting for? Lets go." before running out the door and jumping over the railing to land in the clearing 20 feet below.

When I stand up Luce is already standing there smiling and I say "How did you get here so fast?"

I turn when Shadow pops up behind me saying "While you were out I continued a bit into her training mainly with morphing into the shadows so now she's proficient enough to travel for quite a distance. Once you're caught up and after I teach you the attacks I can teach you how to extend the distance to which you can travel as well as travel as a shadow during the day."

I nod before turning towards the feast laid out on the blanket and start digging in.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After that scare with Zeref and the demon I'm glad to see Natsu is still the same as ever though around his neck a faint gold outline can be seen.

Light looks over to see what I'm looking at and says "Unfortunately because of how I had to remove the seal he will always bear that mark but he'll be able to cover it with his scarf." I nod before going to eat as well.

After we eat Shadow picks up our training where he left off when Light took off when Natsu by having us assume our meditation positions.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As the mages assume their positions Skiadrum says "Focus on the shadows around you, feel the darkness calling to you. As it crawls up your arms don't panic let it overtake you. When the darkness tries to take your sanity take control."

Even as he says this the shadows around the trees start moving on their own and gathering around the mages.

The shadows start to crawl up licking up their back and limbs like fire and this time the shadows cover both mages without trouble.

"Now feel the depths of the shadows and slip into those depths." The shadow dragon says watching Natsu as Lucy starts playing in the shadows disappearing and reappearing.

"Lucy what have I told you about doing that?" Lucy stops and just sits in the shadows watching as Natsu begins sinking still trying to focus.

"Good Natsu now open your eyes." When Natsu opens his eyes they are no longer onyx but a deep emerald green. He looks down and quickly slips in until not even his hair is seen.

Shadow freezes and reaches into the shadows saying "Oh no you don't there will be no pranks while we are training, afterwards you can but not now."

Natsu rises back up and says "how did you know?" Shadow smirks and says "When you've mastered the shadows you can read anything in them including plots of pranking a light dragon. How do you think I'm often able to trick him myself?"

Laughter fills the air and everyone looks at Lucy as she tries to catch her breath. "What's so funny?" she shakes her head and says "Nothing much just the fact that there's a prank already waiting to happen."

Natsu catches on and says "Hell yea Ice dick and Metalhead will never see it coming." Shadow shakes his head and says "I only have two weeks left to teach you so you have to pay attention."

The salmon haired boy gives a mock salute and says "Aye Sir" Shadow nods and says "Now Igneel, Grandeeney, and Metalicana all said that when it comes to it you can learn a new move everyday correct?"

Both mages nod and he continues "You're fortunate as there are only a few moves you need to learn for shadow magic and if you learn one a day you'll be able to start with Weisslogia early."

Shadow slides into a fighting position and says "The first move is of course the roar, you want gather the shadows around you and when you say the spell it takes the gathered shadows and throws them at your opponent. Like so."

Light moves onto the field while Shadow says this and takes the spell head on but dissipates it using his light magic. "Your turns"

Lucy steps up and quickly sets off a roar but as the spell continues the shadows start turning into flames and Shadow yells out "Lucy stop"

By the time she stops the spell she's caught Weisslogia's hair on fire. "Oops sorry Light didn't mean for that to happen." She walks over to put out the fire while Natsu says "That was funny I wonder why you went to fire instead of wind or metal."

Shadow is quiet for a minute and says "It's probably because fire magic was what you were taught first. You were running out of shadows so your magic quickly reverted to the first element it had learned."

"I'm still sorry I didn't mean to burn your hair." Light waves his hands and says "No problem I've been burned by a few fire dragons before so I'm used to it. Lets move on to Natsu so that he can get a shot in."

Natsu grins and says "I'm fired up now." Light groans and says "Please try not to use your fire, fire royalty runs at a different degree of burn. Those burns I feel for a while afterwards."

Natsu chuckles and says "No promises remember I'm just learning to use the shadow version."

Lucy stomps over and says "Natsu Dragneel if you light him on fire on purpose I'll make sure that when you wake up tomorrow you'll be bald." and waves Cancer's key around to prove her point.

All color flushes from his face and says "Alright you win just don't let that crab near my hair. Jeez the last time you did that I went bald for two months."

"Why only two months?" Light says as he fixes his hair. "Luce stopped being mad at me and had Cancer fix it." The dragons nod and Natsu gets into position before yelling "Shadow Dragon's Roar"

The attack hits Light head on and quickly overpowers his magic causing the dragon to fly into a tree. "Oof nice hit Natsu maybe next time tone it down some, these trees took years to grow."

Natsu grins and says "I'll try but no guarantees."

For the rest of the day the mages practice their roars with Shadow giving tips and pointers while Light acts as the target. Almost every time Natsu hits Light, the dragon is pushed back but no longer so hard that he hits the tree.

While Lucy manages to stop switching from shadows to fire and is soon able to hold a shadow roar long enough to push the light dragon back.

When the sun sets Shadow says "Alright that's enough for today go up, eat dinner, and go to bed we'll meet up here tomorrow at dawn."

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

It's been a week since Skiadrum started teaching us the attacks and now all we have left to do is unlock our shadow drives.

Like usual we meet in the clearing at dawn to eat a small breakfast before training starts.

After breakfast Shadow says "Now to unlock you shadow drive you cloak your bodies in an aura of shadows, amplifying the powers of your magic. The use of this spell also improves your overall physical performance, including your strength, speed, and endurance."

We follow his example and soon I can feel the power pulsing through, it's so much I can't keep still so I say "Hey Luce wanna race?" Luce looks at me and grins saying "First one to the Capital and back wins."

We're about to take off when I'm grabbed by my muffler and Luce by the back of her shirt. "Absolutely not shadow drive is not for racing do you understand me?"

I cross my arms over my chest and look the other way. "Natsu I am not afraid to let you drop from the sky if you don't answer me." I shiver as I remember the last time Shadow dropped me from that height and say "Fine no racing."

Shadow drops me and turns to Luce saying "And you little lady should know better, even if you can beat him." Luce nods and Light sets her down. She walks over to me and whispers in my ear "When we get back to Earthland the first one to Crocus and back to the guild."

I grin and nod before turning to Shadow and saying "Are we finished training with you?" The shadow dragon nods and says "You start right away with Weisslogia but I warn you, if you're caught using Shadow Drive before you learn White Drive I will drop both of you. Am I understood?"

We nod and Light says "Now that that's over you're pretty much doing the opposite of what you did with Shadow meaning instead of gathering the shadows you'll use the light that resides in your soul."

Light takes up a standing position where his palms touch but the left hand points up while the right hand points down and he says "Take this position and slow your breathing, with light magic it's a bit harder to grasp and I've found that being in this position lines up the gates to unlock the magic more easily."

Luce and I stake the position but Light frowns and says "Lucy reverse your palms."

Luce quickly twist her wrist until they're in the correct position and he says "Good now here's the awkward part. The reason why you learned shadow magic first is because the shadows will actually guide you to where the light is locked away, so look inwards and follow the shadows."

I close my eyes and quickly find the pull of the shadows. Then I realize that the shadows are flowing in a direction other than I normally find it so I follow the flow until I find what I can only describe as a chest.

As I try to open the chest the shadows produce a key which I quickly grab and unlock the chest, when the chest opens the light spreads out with the shadows stepping back so the light has room to grow. My focus is broken when Light says "Good job Natsu open your eyes and see your light."

I follow his instructions and sitting in between my palms is a ball of light. "Now absorb the light back and watch."

As the light is absorbed I can see it traveling up my arms and over my shoulders. I look over to see Luce absorbing hers back and Light says "Wow you two really are quick learners. It took me 2 months to unlock my light when I came of age."

Me and Luce share a look and he says "When dragons hatch they have no element, they don't gain one until they come of age. When they do come of age they can pick which element they want to pick although they typically go with the same element as their parents."

We nod and he says "We'll start with 'Light Dragon's Roar' Shadow if you please." Shadow nods and moves into position on the field.

By the time the sun reaches the horizon we've already mastered the first spell and we're sitting around a fire swapping stories.

"Then when he went to go grab the feather the griffin turned around and almost grabbed his wing before he could take off." Light finishes with a grin.

Shadow flinches and says "And that is why you don't argue with a griffin over a feather."

I laugh softly and Luce shakes her head. "Are you two really brothers or are you just close enough to call each other that?" I say as I balance flames from the fire over my knuckles.

The dragons share a look and say "We have the same parents aye, but when Shadow went to go learn light magic something happened and we figured out he is better fit for shadow magic."

Shadow shrugs and says "It is what it is but now I couldn't even think of being anything else but shadows, besides someone has to keep this idiot in line."

Light scowls and Shadow sticks his tongue out at him. Luce stands up and says "It's getting late we should probably get to bed, I'll see you tomorrow."

As she heads off I eat the flame on my knuckles and quickly follow her up into the treehouse. "Luce are you mad at me?" I say once I grab hold of her waist.

She shakes her head and says "Why would I be mad at you? Practice took a lot out of me today. Who knew going from shadow to light training would be so exhausting?"

I smile and nod before saying "Just promise me that if something is bothering you then you'll tell me." She kisses me and when she pulls away she says "I promise"

 **~2 weeks later~ Lucy P.O.V.**

This is it, today determines if we're ready to move on to learning water magic. We're standing in the clearing as Shadow says "To move on to the next dragon you have to catch Light and I before we reach Water Territory."

We stare at him in surprise and he says "The rules are simple one of you will pick Shadow drive while the other picks Light drive. The dragon you catch is the opposite of the drive meaning if you pick Shadow drive you have to catch Light. No other magics and no downright dirty tricks am I understood?"

Natsu and I share a look and nod. I go with White Drive while Natsu goes with Shadow Drive and the dragons nod before taking off.

I go after Skiadrum while Natsu fades into the shadows and go after Weisslogia. As I run I hear chuckling and look up to see a shadow moving overhead so I jump up and reach into the shadow and pull the shadow dragon out.

When his head is clear he shoots off a roar making me let go and he takes off again. I grin and say "If that's how you want to play."

2 hours later I can smell the water up ahead and I jump one last time and grab him out again, but this time before he can use a spell I plant a stigma on the back of his neck and he falls out of the shadows.

When he hits the ground he says "Alright you caught me now can you remove the stigma?" I nod and quickly do so. When he stands he says "Come on lets see if we can't find those idiots hopefully they haven't destroyed the forest, the queen will kill me if they did."

As we walk I begin picking up Natsu's scent and lead the way towards a beach where we find Natsu sitting on Weisslogia, who is asleep in his dragon form. Natsu turns towards us and says "Well how did you do?"

I grin and say "It's a good thing I practiced with stigmas it came in handy." He whoops while Light says "Congratulations you two we'll stay here tonight and wait for the water dragon, Aqua, to arrive."

* * *

 **Did y'all like it? I want to know what you think so make sure you leave reviews, and don't forget I drop the sequel to 'Tail of Two Dragons' tomorrow so be on the look out for the one. Alright y'all I leave it to you.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Did anyone like what I did with E.N.D.?**


	7. Aqua

**Guys I'm not dead just been busy IRL. And since I won't be able to drop this on Monday because of Columbus Day I'm dropping it today.**

 **I give you:**

 **Chapter 7**

* * *

Chapter 7

Aqua

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

When I wake up I'm confused because as I look around I can see water and then I remember what happened last night and how we ended up here. Grinning I look down to see Lucy asleep on the branch under mine and below that I can see Light and Shadow quietly talking.

I decide to scare the dragons so I quietly get up and swing my way down the tree until I'm hanging ten feet over them and I let go of the branch landing directly in between them.

Light and Shadow don't jump as I expected but they come around and slap me upside the hand. I yelp and say "What was that for?"

Shadow frowns and Light grins saying "That's what you get for trying to scare the twin dragons." I growl and jump at Light and we quickly fall into a fight.

Though the fight doesn't go long because sometime during the exchange Luce wakes up and before I know what's going on she has me by my muffler and is pulling me away from the fight.

"Luce what was that for?" When she lets go of my scarf I stand up and she says "Natsu it's too early to be fighting besides the water dragon will be here any time."

I look back at the light and shadow dragons to see them nodding and I say "Alright you win" Hearing chuckling I turn to see a woman with dark blue hair in a dark blue knee length dress walking through the trees.

Light and Shadow perk up saying "Aqua it's been awhile why don't you come see us anymore?"

Aqua shrugs and says "Because you two numbskulls never come around the coast anymore, you know the only time water dragons can leave the water is in their human form."

Light looks sheepish but Shadow steps forward and gives her a friendly hug. A little confused I say "Why can't water dragons leave the water?"

The water dragon turns towards me and bows saying "Hello Prince, Princess" Luce steps up and says "Please just call us by our given names, I'm Lucy and he's Natsu."

Straightening up she says "Forgive me, as for your question water dragons in their true form need water to keep their scales from drying and cracking but when we can change into our human form then we can walk the land."

I nod in understanding and she says "Now if you don't mind we should be going my time on land is almost up."

Luce walks forward and says "Of course let us be going." Turning we say our goodbyes to the light and shadow dragons before taking off at a jog to catch up with Aqua.

When we reach the water she says "Wait here" Before walking into the water. Not long after we see a bright light and then a beautiful turquoise dragon raises her head above the waves.

As she swims closer she says "Alright you two a couple of things you should know, even though we are in Water Territory the dragon dens reside on the opposite border so it will take us awhile to get there, and the second thing you have to know right now is that we will be under the surface the entire time so I can catch the current."

Luce frowns and says "How will we breathe?" Aqua lowers her head so that one of her sapphire eyes is locked on Luce and says "You will use your ability to guide the winds as well as well as your magic."

"Wait what do you mean?" I say not quite following what she's saying. She snorts and says "Once under the water your sky training will kick in subconsciously and your magic will supply the air you require."

I look over at Luce and she says "Don't worry about it Natsu once we get on our way our magic will take care of everything."

Aqua nods and says "Now climb on we have a long way to go and if we don't catch the current soon we'll be staying here tonight."

Luce moves first and I follow her lead walking into the waves and climbing up Aqua's flipper, when we get settled Aqua moves away from the shore and once she's far enough out she dives.

When the light that we see under the water starts to dim she levels out and I can feel my magic start to burn away. A little worried I look over to see Luce grabbing onto one the turquoise scales and small bubbles escaping out her nose.

Then Aqua speaks "Now that your magic has kicked in you can speak though just as a warning if you panic or move too much your magic will be eaten that much faster."

Luce opens her mouth and I can hear "Why is our magic acting like this anyway?" Aqua turns her head as her flippers keep moving and she says "It is how we train all our hatchlings, when they first come to us they need to learn to breathe first before they can start training."

Still confused I say "But you said that our sky magic kicked in as well and Light said that Dragon hatchlings generally pick the same element as their parents so where does the sky magic come into use?"

Turning her head back around to dodge another water dragon that's diving after a school of fish she says "Water dragons have a tougher time making the switch but since you are the elementals the ability comes quite a bit easier."

"Wait elementals?" Luce says with intrigue as I watch the other dragon disappear into the blue twisting and twirling to catch the fish.

"Yes dragons, or in your case dragon slayers that have training in all the elements are known are elementals, don't be afraid though this is a wondrous title to hold. Most dragons can only learn one or two elements but those who can master more are some of the greatest magic wielders in the realms."

As Luce starts asking more questions I tune out their conversation to look over the dragon herself.

Her scales overlap much like feathers but they don't have a sharp edge like Dad's or Metalicana's and they don't have a soft edge like Grandeeney's feathers. Instead they have more of a scalloped shape to help the water move over them.

Where as other dragons have shorter necks and bigger heads, she has a long slender neck with a head about as big as Happy and Carla combined and it's shaped in a triangle shape.

Her eyes when she turns her head back to look at us are about the size of plates while she has two canines that hang down past her lower jaw.

She has two front flippers and two back flippers, her front flippers about ten feet long on each side while her back flippers are about six feet long and her tail is as long as her body and neck combined.

"Natsu look out." I turn my head back only to have a large tuna slap me across the face. I growl and say "What was that for?"

Aqua turns her head to face forward and says "Sorry about that the other dragons are driving the tuna to their new feeding grounds and in order to reach the caves we have to cross the travel lanes."

My curiosity peaked I say "What do you mean by driving?" She points her head in a direction where two more dragons are following a group of fish and says "Because we are not the only beast in the sea we have to protect our food source.

As we watch one dragon guides the group of fish while the other scares off a shark that had roamed in close.

"Tuna is our main source of food in the sea since we can't remain on dry land for long and in order to protect it we help the schools to migrate to different feeding areas depending on the time of the year, as it is they are being led towards the summer feeding grounds which is still a few days away from here."

"Why can't you eat other fish?" I say as the shark disappears into the depths again.

"Because no other fish in the sea has either the nutrients or the fat that we need to thrive, being under water almost all the time means we need more fat to keep the cold at bay, though you two won't feel it as your fire magic prevents you from feeling cold."

Luce nods and says "How much longer until we reach your caves, that shark was a little too close for comfort in my opinion."

I look at my girlfriend and start laughing accidentally letting go of the scale I'm holding on to. When Aqua realizes this she growls and stops moving forward saying "Prince Natsu it is unwise to let go until we reach the caves otherwise the sharks will come after you next."

When I look below me I can see sharks already moving in so I quickly swim over and grab her scale again saying "My apologies Aqua I didn't realize there was that much danger in the water."

She frowns but as she starts moving again she says "The only reason why all the sharks are in the area is because of the migrations, once the tuna are out the sharks will disappear until we move the tuna again."

As she swims on through I notice her picking up speed and she says "Hold on tight you two I'm about to enter the current, and from now on until we reach the caves no more talking you will need to focus your attention on not being swept away with the current."

I move closer and wrap my arms around Luce caging her in and grabbing onto the scales as Aqua starts to merge into the current.

When she's all the way in the pressure from the current almost takes my breath away but thanks to my magic I'm able to handle it.

Leaning forward I whisper to Luce "How you doing?" Instead of replying verbally she nods her head and I relax enough to take in the view.

Through the invisible walls of the current I can see groups of dragons ranging from couples to about ten chasing after schools of fish as they push them in a southerly direction.

After a couple more hours my magic starts to get low and I start to worry the oxygen becoming slightly less as time passes be.

Looking at Luce I can see she's starting to feel it as well so I take the chance and say "Aqua our magic is getting low how much longer?"

Not daring to look back she says "We still have a few more hours but have no fear, you need the reaction that will happen to occur."

Confused by her statement but knowing to trust her I let one hand go and wrap it around Luce's waist letting her relax against me as we continue on.

An hour after that Luce gasps and I can sense something is happening with her magic so I say "Luce what's wrong, talk to me." She leans forward wrapping her arms around her stomach but she doesn't say anything.

Worried for her I look up to see Aqua looking back at us. "What's happening to Luce?" I say more than worried now.

Quietly she says "Her next origin is being unlocked, in order for it to occur you have to completely run out of magic. That is why we are traveling under the surface. Soon it will happen to you as well but you should have enough time to hold on to her until I can get us out of the current."

True to her word after she gets us out of the current is when the pain starts to take over starting in my stomach and spreading out.

As darkness gathers on the edges of my vision I tighten my hold on Luce only to feel her trying to get out of my grip and then I hear "Hold onto him tightly Lucy."

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After the pain fades I sit up to see we're out of the current but before I say anything I feel Natsu tighten his hold on me and Aqua says "Grab hold of Natsu, Lucy"

Working my way out of his grip which has slackened greatly I grab hold of his muffler and Aqua says "Hold onto him tightly Lucy."

Grabbing onto one of her scales I say "Aqua how much further is it to the dens?" I feel her chuckle and she says "Look ahead Princess we are here."

Scowling I look over her shoulder and see a rock wall with many cave entrances, and as we get closer she dives down further and enters through one of the caves before surfacing.

Taking a deep breath after having been underwater for so long I look around to see that we're in a cavern about as big as the ballroom in the mansion where I grew up, the ceiling is rounded and smooth no stalactites or stalagmites seen.

On either side of the river sits a stone ledge about twenty five yards wide and on one side I can see a passage that leads away into the stone.

As I'm looking over the scene Aqua swims up to the stone ledge that has the passage and says "Alright stand over there and I be out in a minute."

Nodding I drag Natsu by his muffler on to the stone and then Aqua submerges and a bright light is seen and when she breaks the surface she's in human form again.

When she climbs on to the stone ledge she says "Come on let's take Natsu to his room and then we'll get something to eat." I nod and we both grab an arm dragging him down the passage into another cavern.

This cavern doesn't have a river running through it but instead has multiple other hallways branching towards dragons only know where.

Looking at Aqua I say "How does your transformation work in here?" She smiles and says "While we're in the dens we're able to stay in human shape infinitely but most prefer their beast form that's why we have river caves like the one we just came from littered throughout the bottom of the rock wall."

Looking back ahead we walk towards a hall only to stop when a male with dark blue hair, a navy shirt and black shorts steps out. Aqua frowns and says "Koniro what are you doing here? Why aren't you with your group?"

Koniro frowns and says "I was but I ended up chasing a great white into one of the rivers and I had to eliminate the threat."

Then he notices us and bows saying "Welcome Princess I take it the Prince didn't take the journey well?"

I scowl and say "He took the journey better than I did but like usual he overdid it." He bows again and says "Forgive my folly, if I may I will go and rejoin my group for the migrations."

I nod and he practically takes off at a run towards the passage we just left. Aqua shakes her head and as we move down a passage she says "Koniro like most male water dragons don't like fire dragons."

"Trust me it's not element based all males are like that." I say as we walk. She looks at me in surprise and I say "Back on Earthland, there is an ice mage he fights with almost all the time and though they act like rivals they're more brothers than they care to admit out loud."

She nods and says "Koniro and his brother Konsho are like that and when they fight we have to yell at them to take it outside."

I laugh and say "If we made Natsu and Gray fight outside they would be outside all the time."

After we lay him on his bed we walk out the door and back down the hall to the cavern then down the closest passage on our right.

When we enter the next cavern I quickly figure out it's a lunchroom from the fact that there are many tables and a lot of chairs and as Aqua walks over towards a fridge I say "Just how many dragons do these dens hold?"

She looks up after grabbing a few containers and says "In the dragon realm there are about 500 water dragons total, and when migration happens about 300 swim the oceans."

As we sit I say "What about when you're not in the middle of migration?" She looks up from the container in front of her and says "About 100 reside here for most of the year, only traveling to find mates or attend a ceremony in the capital."

Looking around I say "All the other dragons we've stayed with never had any of their kind staying with them."

"Well that's because water dragons are more close knit them the other elements, have to be in order to work together during the tuna migrations."

I nod and we get lost in other topics of conversation.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

When I wake up I notice I'm not in the water any more and that I am in fact in a bed and when I sit up I realize that we've reached the dens.

Walking out the door I pick up Lucy's scent right away and follow it down a hall and into a cavern before turning down another hall into what looks like a lunchroom.

Stopping in the doorway I see Luce sitting in front of me with her back to me while Aqua sits across the table from her.

Grinning I walk forward quietly and wrap my arms around her and when she goes to retaliate with an elbow to my gut I catch it and say "Easy Luce it's just me."

Faster than I can blink she's standing and hugging me back. "How are you feeling Natsu?" I look up at the water dragon and say "I'm good that was a good nap."

She nods and we sit down at the table with Luce and Aqua sliding the leftovers my way to eat as they talk.

"Lucy we'll start your training tomorrow since it's too late to get as far as I would like tonight. Natsu the queen has said that since you're a fire dragon you will not be training with us. Am I correct?"

I snort and say "Bullshit I'll do the training, saying that it's impossible that a fire dragon can't learn water is shit and I'm gonna prove it."

She frowns and says "But the queen said..." I stand and say "I could care less what Layla thinks about this, she misunderstands what it means to be a fairy tail mage, we live for the impossible."

I turn and walk away ignoring their shouts and walk down the hall towards the cavern. When I get there I can smell the sea salt on the breeze and follow it down another passage to find a cavern with a river running through.

Walking over to one end I sit down and decide to check in on the guild so I settle into my meditative state and soon after I can hear Erza.

"Master are you sure about what you saw?" I can hear the doubt that laces her words.

"Erza since when do you doubt your Master?" the surprise in Gramps voice is almost funny.

A sigh and "Alright if you say so, if that is all then I'll take my leave." Silence and the door shuts.

I lose my concentration when Luce says "Natsu are you listening to the guild again?" Opening my eyes I grin and say "Yea they're getting pretty worried but I want to pass a message for Happy think you can help me?"

She nods and sits down in front of me and I take her hands before falling back into the meditative state.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

As he takes over I can already hear the whispers and as the winds straighten out I open my eyes to see I'm back in Master's office.

Grinning I look to see Master looking out his window so I swing my hand and the curtains wave in a nonexistent wind. Master tenses and when I repeat the action he says "Alright brats I know you're there tell me what you want."

Turning I see an hourglass on the corner of his desk and with just a small push it falls and breaks sending sand everywhere. Then I gather the sand and spread it out before writing:

Master,

Tell Happy we're safe and will be back soon.

Lucy, Natsu.

He reads this to himself out loud and walks to the door opening it calls "Happy, Erza, Gray get up here now."

As he turns around and walks back to his desk I hear Natsu whisper "Luce hurry up I can't hold it much longer."

Hoping beyond hope he can hold out until the others arrive I breathe a sigh of relief when they enter the office.

While I quickly wipe the message Master says to Happy "Don't worry about Natsu and Lucy they'll be back soon." Happy immediately cheers up and says "Aye sir I'm gonna go tell Carla." and flies out the door.

Feeling myself being pulled back I quickly write in the sand:

Hey guys, Master got to go.

And then I'm back in the cavern next to the river with Natsu. Natsu jumps forward and grabs me in a hug saying "Thank you Luce."

I yawn and say "Anything for you Natsu come on let's get to bed." before standing up and walking back to the main cavern to find Aqua and my room.

 **Master P.O.V.**

After the first message from them I call Erza, Gray and Happy up to my office and tell Happy "Don't worry about Natsu and Lucy they'll be back soon."

The exceed cheers up so fast I can't help but grin and after he flies out the door I see Gray looking at the sand on the floor before saying "Master why is there sand on the floor and why are there words written in it?"

I look down and read 'Hey guys, Master got to go.' I sigh and shake my head saying "That would be Lucy's doing."

Gray looks at me in surprise but Erza says "So that's what you meant by they're ok." I nod and Gray says "Do you know where they are? And how we can get them back?"

"Unfortunately I do not but I have an idea of how to find out. The reason I called you up here as well is because you deserve to know but no one else can hear about this until they return and explain. Am I clear?"

They nod and I say "You're dismissed." As they walk out the door I pull out a piece of paper and send a fire message to the celestial mage of Sabertooth.

Ten minutes later Loke appears in front of me saying "Hey Gramps Libra said you wanted to talk to me?"

Getting up I stand in front of my desk and stare him down until he fidgets. "Loke where are Natsu and Lucy?" He gulps and says "By whatever do you mean?"

I raise an eyebrow and say "You know what I mean Loke, you are one her most trusted spirits and the leader of zodiac now where are my brats?"

He sighs and says "The dragon prophecy is coming true." My eyes widen in shock and he says "They've already started their training which is how I'm guessing they been able to get to you."

Calming down I say "How long until they return?"

He's silent for a second before saying "They're with the sixth dragon now so they have five more to train with before they return, in dragon realm time they have six months left but in this realm it's only a few more days."

I nod and he says "Gramps what are you gonna do about the Grand Magic Games?" I chuckle hearing the hope in his voice and say "Don't worry Loke your key will be in that arena, besides I have a feeling they're gonna find one of the portals."

He looks at me in confusion and I say "The last time Natsu faced off against the twins I could feel the energy change as he got closer to the portal."

He's about to say something but his eyes take on a far away look and says "Shit gotta go Gramps Lucy is calling me for practice." Even as I nod he disappears again.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

It's been a week since I convinced Aqua to let me train and Luce talked to Gramps and right now we're in a sparring match.

"You think you can take me on by yourself Luce?" I say taunting her. She scowls and says "Since you think you're so powerful let's see how you do with these three."

She throws forward three keys and Loke, Capricorn, and Taurus appear ready to fight. I grin and hold my position. "Bring it Luce I have a new move I want to try out."

A few seconds later Luce is coming at me from the front, Loke from my left, Capricorn my right, and Taurus behind me. I bring my hands together, palms flat, with one hand facing down and the other up and say "Scalding Raindance."

Clouds gather inside the cavern near the ceiling and rain starts to fall but as it touches the ground it starts to sizzle before disappearing.

"Ow what the hell Natsu?" I look over to see Loke disappearing back to the spirit realm with Capricorn and Taurus not far behind.

Grinning I let my hands drop and the clouds fade away. When I look at Luce I take a step back because she is pissed.

"Natsu I told you not to use any of your scalding spells." She says quietly. I gulp and say "W-When did you say that Luce?"

"Before we started the match I told you. Don't you remember?" I shake my head and she sighs before saying "I'm going to lunch." and stomps down the hallway.

With a frown I sit down on the edge of the stone and draw a sphere of water into my hand before calling up a flame and start juggling them trying to figure out what exactly did I do to make her mad.

"Prince why is Princess mad?" Pausing my juggling I look up to see Koniro standing a few feet behind me. With a sigh I throw the water back and dissipate the flame before saying "Koniro I told you to call me Natsu, and to call her Lucy."

He sits down as well and says "Forgive me but you still did not answer my question." I chuckle and say "The better question would be how did I not piss her off. Though I think this time was because I had used one of my scalding moves when she apparently had said not to."

He nods and says "I didn't think I would ever see a fire dragon learn water as quickly as you have. Why have you been learning it? Almost all fire dragons can barely stand to be around us."

"Because it's training and I want to see the dragons fly through Earthland again." I say looking into the water as I think back to how I actually learned control over water.

"It wasn't that hard really, it just took a bit of patience." I say quietly as I move my hand over the water watching it rise and fall to match my movements.

I stand and say "Hey Koniro race you to the lunchroom." He grins and jumps up saying "You're on." I take off down the hallway and across the cavern and can hear him catching up so I say "Water slick"

A laugh and then "Seriously? You think a spell like that is gonna stop me? Try this on for size. Water Lock."

Even as the water wraps around me I heat my core and the water evaporates. "Haha you really think that can stop a fire dragon?" I hear a growl as I leap across the threshold to the lunchroom and I say "Ha I win."

Koniro tackles me and says "Oh no you don't we're not finished. Azurite palm." I grin and say "Fire Dragon's Iron fist."

But before we can make contact I'm being grabbed by my muffler and Koniro flies into an invisible barrier.

Turning around I flinch seeing Lucy's murderous look and she says "Natsu Dragneel how many times do I have to tell you no fighting during lunch?"

I mumble and she says "I'm sorry I can't hear you." I growl knowing she can damn well hear me seeing as she has better hearing then I do and say "You shouldn't have to." loud enough for a few dragons nearby to hear as well.

She sets me down and I look over to see Koniro getting the third degree by Aqua and his brother, Konsho.

Walking over and sitting down next to Luce I say "After lunch we could practice our hand to hand without magic if you want." She shakes her head and says "Aqua is teaching us a new spell today remember?"

I grin and say "Oh yea then lets hurry up and finish I wonder what it'll be today I mean we've already learned the roar, bullet droplets, and both forms of Azurite Palm."

She nods and after we finish eating we make our way to the main cavern to see Aqua talking to another dragon but when she sees us the other dragon walks away and Aqua says "Sorry about that lets get going we're going up to the surface for today's lessons."

We follow her into the river cavern and when she jumps in and changes form we climb on her back grabbing hold as she dives under.

When we're out of the cave Luce says "Aqua what are you going to do about the sharks?" Aqua looks back and says "Since Migration is over the sharks should be gone but just in case I'll be there to scare them away."

I look at Luce and say "What are you afraid of them Luce?" She gives me a glare and when Aqua says "Jump into the water." She walks off her back while I cannon ball off the water dragon's tail.

When I surface she says "Gather the water under you until you rise above it." Doing as she says I watch as the water raises me until I'm standing on the water and when I take a step forward I can feel the water catch my foot and hold me up.

Laughing I run and jump over the dragon landing next to Luce who is still struggling with her balance so I say "Ms. Heartfilia would you care for a dance?"

She relaxes and says "I would love to Mr. Dragneel." and takes my hands dancing across the water until Aqua says "Alright you two you've proved your point now lets get onto the main lesson."

We walk back to her as she changes form standing on the water as well. "Now this next spell is call Water Serpent: Rising Geyser."

She stands in a relaxed position with her hands at her sides and says "For this move to work effectively you have to be near or on a source of water, to do the move itself you start in a position similar to how I'm standing."

Then she raises her hands above her head and claps them together before bringing them down and her palms meeting with the surface of the water. Then she yells "Water Serpent: Rising Geyser."

A bright blue circle with the emblem of the water dragon appears below her and ten feet ahead of her a line of geysers appear. After she lets the magic go she transforms and says "Now your turn and you can't do it against each other. Natsu if you please."

I nod and walk a good distance away before copying her movements but when the circle appears beneath me the outer edge is bright red while the inside is dark blue and when the geysers appear they copy the colors of the spell circle.

After I let the spell go I take a deep breath and walk over to Luce saying "Your turn have fun."

Luce gulps but walks a distance away before doing the spell herself but when the circle appears it is gold in the center with a blue edge and once again the geysers copy the circle.

After the spell is gone Aqua swims up and says "Bring up your flames both of you." We do so and I'm shocked to see that my flames are no longer red and orange but are different colors of blue with red tips.

"Hey Aqua care to explain?" I say after I toss my flame up and down a few times to test it out. She smiles and says "It is the effect of a fire dragon learning water magic, as a result you have reached a new stepping stone in power."

I look at her in confusion but Luce says "I've read about this before it means our flames are much hotter than they used to be."

Grinning I say "I'm fired up now, the next time I fight Ice prick I'll definitely burn his ass." Luce smiles and shakes her head while Aqua says "Come on you two let's head back you don't want to be out in the water when night comes around."

I frown and say "Why not?" She points her head where we can see a fin popping up and says "Though there are no more normal sharks around after the migrations Megalodons take over the waters at night, that's why we forbid hatchlings from leaving the dens after nightfall."

Luce shivers at the size of the fin and says "Then let's go." We climb on Aqua's back and she takes off full speed for the dens making sure to put good distance between us and the giant shark.

 **~Two Weeks Later~ Natsu P.O.V.**

We're standing outside waiting for Venom to appear and as we wait Aqua pulls two boxes from a pouch at her side and says "Now listen here, Venom is one of the oldest dragons in the dragon realm so you have to be patient with him. When it comes to his element he is the best but to help you out I had Metalicana make these for you."

She hands us the boxes and when I open mine I frown and say "What are the bracelets for?"

Aqua gives a small smile and say "This jewelry serves two purposes, one is to protect you against the poisons you'll be dealing with and by the time you're finished with Venom the spells to protect against the poisons that are woven with the metal will have permanently stuck to your skin."

I look over to see Luce holding up a pair of earrings that look like dragon wings as Aqua says "For you Natsu the protective spells will appear as tattoos around your wrist small and unnoticeable unless you're actually looking. As for you Lucy the tattoos will be hidden behind your ears so that no one will notice unless you're actually looking."

Luce looks at the dragon and says "Ok that's the first part what's the second part?"

The water dragon grins and says "The second part of them is that they act as limiters meaning they'll cut down on the amount of magic you have access to at any one time but since you've unlocked your next origin you'll need them as your powers will only grow from here."

Luce nods and says "So they'll make it easier to control our powers as we move onto the next dragons?" Aqua nods and says "Not only the next dragons but in your life on Earthland as well."

"Thank you Aqua for everything you've done for us." We say simultaneously. Then we look up when we hear flapping to see a dark purple dragon landing in the water near us.

Aqua wasn't kidding when she said he's old even on his snout you can see gray scales as a tale tell sign of just how old he is.

Walking over Luce says "Hello Venom." He nods and in a deep bass says "Hello Prince and Princess if you're ready it would be best to take off so that we can reach my cave before dark."

We nod and the water pushes us up until we can walk on his back and take a seat. Once we're seated he takes off and we wave goodbye to the water dragons.

* * *

 **I have to give big props to _Bluedog197_ if it wasn't for her I would've stayed stuck on this chapter. What I said at the beginning is true I have a bit happening IRL but I also was stuck in what to write. And guys when I say your reviews help they truly do, they're a big motivation and when idea's pop up they kick start the imagination.**

 **So I'm asking you like always leave the reviews and fave and follow for more.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. To all who are in the face of Hurricane Matthew my thoughts go out to you.**


	8. Venom

**Hey guys,**

 **Sorry this chapter took so long to come out with, but no need to pull out the torches and pitchforks because it won't take me as long to drop the next chapter. I promise on my word as a lover of Fairy Tail.**

 **I'm really surprised by the 44 Faves and wait I must not be reading this right.**

 **82. That's right  82 followers. Guys you are the best. :-)**

 **Oh yea one more thing before we continue to Chapter 8:**

 ** _Bluedog197_ you are amazing at helping me out and I have to say THANK YOU.**

 **Alright my spiel is done, here's Chapter 8.**

* * *

Chapter 8

Venom

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

As Venom flies east to his cave I can't help but look at the gray scales that cover the front of his body and finally I say "Venom how old are you?"

The old dragon is quiet for a while and I get the impression he hadn't heard me until he says "Prince lets just say I was old when the last ice age came around in Earthland."

You can hear the aww in Lucy's voice as she says "But the last ice age occurred over ten thousand years ago."

The elder dragon chuckles and says "Aye princess but don't let my age dissuade you from your studies. I can still teach and attack as need be. Now I assume the water dragons gave you gifts to help with learning my magic?"

"Yes Senpai." I look at Luce in shock surprised to hear her use such an honorific and the poison dragon chuckles saying "Princess there is no need to use honorifics with me, I may be old but in truth I should be bowing to you, so just use my name as you have done with your other teachers."

I grin while Venom says "Now something the water dragon may have not explained to you about those gifts is that they will allow you to identify any poison you come in contact with by adjusting your sense of smell to pick up on it better. You will see this when we reach my home in a few minutes."

Even as he says this we see a cave appear off in the distance that is surrounded in purple and as we get closer I take a deep breath and say "Venom is that what I think it is?"

Venom turns his head towards me and says "And what do you think it is Prince?" Taking another deep breath and growl saying "Is that a field of Aconitum?"

The dragon looks at me in shock while Luce looks at me in confusion. "I didn't know that you knew the correct name for monkswood, do you know the other name as well?"

I nod and say "The plant goes by three names Aconitum, monkswood, and wolfsbane." The dragon nods and Luce says "I still don't understand what's going on."

Standing I grab her wrist and pull her up before pointing at the field next to the cave. "That purple field you see is a field of wolfsbane, extremely deadly to anything but dragons and dragon slayers."

"Why is it not deadly to us?" She says as she stares at the field while Venom starts to descend.

With a mad grin I run and jump off of Venoms tail before he completely settles and pick one of the flowers inhaling deeply.

Taking the flower to Luce I say "Smell for yourself dragons love the smell of wolfsbane, even as humans give roses on Valentine's Day, dragons give a bouquet of monkswood."

She inhales and her face lights up as she holds the flower to her nose. When we hear chuckling we turn to see Venom in his human form, and just as his beast form looks old so does his human form.

He's maybe four feet tall with laughter lines deeply engraved into his face and he has no hair on his head but a long white moustache falls down his face. As for what he's wearing he has on a deep purple robe and black sandals can be seen flashing from underneath as he walks.

"Ah you've found out my hobby, being a poison dragon means I have a deeper understanding of anything poisonous and so I basically have a green thumb when it comes to growing poisonous plants, my favorite of course being wolfsbane."

Turning back to Luce I take the flower from her and put it her hair and say "You may have looked gorgeous before but now you look like a goddess."

She blushes and Venom says "Alright you two let me show you to your rooms then we'll have lunch and get started on training."

We follow as he walks into the cave and down some passages until we reach our rooms. After we change we follow the poison dragon back down the hall, but I stop when another scent hits my nose and I say "Ugh why do you grow milkweed?"

I cover my nose with my sleeve and he says "It is only one of many I grow here I have sixty five total if you must know."

I look at him in surprise and he says "Of course I'm gonna know how many poisons I have residing in my home, even now I can smell them all as they grow. But you need not worry yourself about that, the only thing you have to worry about is what poisons you will be working with on any day."

Then Luce says "How many will we be working with a day?" As we start walking again he says "In between your spell training and meditation you will be mastering five new poisons a day."

Doing the math I say "So for the next two weeks we'll have to worry about poisons as well as meditation and learning the new spells?"

"Sort of, the meditation and the poisons will go hand in hand, meaning that soon you'll have such an understanding of the poison that you'll be able to know what it is as a sixth sense." He looks back at us as we enter the dining room and we nod before sitting at the table.

Looking at the table I frown when I see greens but no meat and when I say as much Luce says "Look at your bracelets."

I look down at my wrist to see my bracelets spinning and as they do I can pick up the scents from the table better and say "Are you serious? We have to eat the plants as well?"

He nods and as he makes his plate "Now eat you'll need it for when we start." I groan but make a plate throwing a bit of everything on it just to stop my stomach from growling.

After lunch he guides us back out into the field of wolfsbane and when he stops he points to a clear area and says "Take your meditative positions."

Once we do he says "Now like I said earlier you will be learning about five new poisons every day from what plants they are made from to how they smell in vapor form."

Venom reaches into his robe and pulls out ten vials five for Luce and five for me. Each vial has a different colored poison in it but no label as to what it is.

He takes the vials and lays them down in front of us and says "Now focus your senses on the vials."

Taking a deep breath I close my eyes but slam them open again at just how strong the pull is from the poisons. When Venom sees this he frowns and says "Prince have you come in contact with a poison dragon before?"

I frown and say "I fought this poison dragon slayer a few years back but he's a second generation slayer meaning he had a lacrima implanted in him that gave him the magic."

He nods and says "It doesn't matter if it is a lacrima or if he was taught by one of my kind what does matter is that you've been in contact with a venom dragon's poison."

"Why does that matter?" I glance over to see Luce paying attention to the conversation as well and Venom says "It's not bad it's actually really good, it means that you're already in tune with the poisons that is why they call to you so strongly."

Turning back to me he says "Now back to your meditation."

I nod and take another deep breath closing my eyes in the process and this time when I feel the pull from the poisons I grab hold and from some where in the back of my head I hear shattering but ignore it.

When I notice how the poison moves as easily as water I grin and start playing with the poison as I would a sphere of water. Opening my eyes I amazed to find all five poisons floating in a globular shape an arm's length in front of me at eye level.

My grin gets bigger and when I reach out towards one of the poison globs it moves to wrap around my fingers kind of like what my fire does when I play with it.

Spreading my fingers out the poisons each wrap around a finger and Venom says "Excellent control Prince, now why don't you try using them for attacks instead of keeping yourself distracted."

I frown as I try to decide what to attack but he answers my questions by saying "Feel free to attack the trees on the edge of the clearing but be warned don't let the poison actually touch your skin it'll eat through your skin faster then you can blink."

Standing I nod and walk over to the tree line while watching Luce struggle to command to poisons to her. I don't help this time though because I know she wants to get this herself and I would probably be in the same situation if it wasn't for the fact that I had fought Cobra back during the Nirvana incident.

I stop about ten feet in front of a tree and decide on using the dark purple poison, but as I'm about to attack Venom walks up and says "Before you attack what is the poison you're picking?"

Turning towards him I say "Hemlock why?" He raises an eyebrow and says "And how can you tell it's hemlock and not something like milkweed?"

I snort and say "One there is a slight scent of what it was and two I just know." He looks thoughtful for a second before nodding and saying "Very well as a tip of advice though a little bit goes a long way."

As he walks away I run his words through my head before deciding to take it literally. Letting the poison expand to cover my fist I launch myself at the tree and strike.

When I turn to assess the damage Venom says "Well done Prince, you're ready to start learning one of the spells but wait until the princess can catch up."

Nodding I walk over to watch Luce as she stands ready to strike but as she starts to move I frown and say "Hold up Luce."

She stops and turns towards me and says "What's wrong Natsu?" Walking forward I grab her hand and bring it up saying "Why didn't you tell me."

She looks away and I say "Luce Venom said these poisons will eat skin if they touch it." Yanking her wrist away she says "It's fine Natsu, I'm fine."

When she turns back towards the tree I say "No it's not fine tell me what's wrong." Ignoring my question she jumps at the tree and starts hitting repeatedly until her hits turn from poison to fire.

Looking back at Venom to see him shaking his head I stay where I'm at while she continues to burn the tree to a crisp, and after she's done Venom says "That'll be enough for today, dinner is at sunset."

He disappears into his cave and I step towards Luce only for her to fade into shadow and take off through the forest.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After watching Natsu take control of the poisons so easily I can't help but feel weak next to him, he's always been strong but I had hoped that with all this training we've done I'd be able to catch up to him.

It doesn't matter that the only reason he's so good at controlling the poison is because he had to fight that Cobra guy all those years ago, but it's the fact that next to him I'm still weak.

As I jump through the shadows these thoughts run on a repeat track and I'm only knocked off my train of thought when I'm pulled out of the shadows.

Looking up I'm surprised to see Light grabbing me by the back of the shirt while Shadow sits in a nearby tree. When Light drops me I say "Where did you come from?"

Light chuckles and Shadow says "We should be asking you the same." I huff and cross my arms saying "None of your business."

The twins share a look and Light says "It looked like you were running from your mate." A blush flashes across my face and I say "We're not mated yet, and so what if I was?"

Shadow has a sad smile on his face and Light says "So why were you running?" I look away and he says "If you don't spill I plant a stigma gluing you to that spot until you tell us."

I sigh and run a hand through my hair before saying "Because I'll never be as strong as him, there are you happy?"

Shadow jumps down and says "Lucy you are already ten times stronger than when you stayed with us and I guarantee you are fifty times stronger then when you first came here, what makes you think you are weak?"

I grumble and he raises an eyebrow saying "Now I didn't hear that so speak up."

Throwing my hands in the air I say "Because it took Natsu ten minutes to gain control of the poisons and it took me much longer just to get the poisons to accept me."

"Lucy just because you didn't get it as fast as Natsu did doesn't mean you're not as strong as he is, actually if I had to judge you are actually stronger than even him."

Turning to the light dragon I say "What makes you say that?" He walks up and says "Because in order to calm a fire dragon, the mate has to be stronger."

I frown "But."

"There is nothing else to it, the reason why Natsu chose you is because you are the only one strong enough to calm his inner fire."

Looking at Shadow I say "Just how do you know so much about fire dragons anyway?"

Light pushes my head with a finger and says "Remember we're nomads? Well one of our caves is actually in Igneel's mountain so we have access to all his reading material."

I huff and say "I wonder why Igneel didn't say anything about that?"

Shadow lets out a small laugh and says "Because we were staying with the water dragons at the time."

I nod my head and Light says "We should be going it's getting dark and we're supposed to be in lightning territory by tomorrow morning."

"Why can't you fly?" Shadow points at Light and says "This baka decided he wanted to hunt bear as a gift for Spark and so we stopped here to hunt some before we continued on."

"Alright well I'll let you get back to hunting, it was good seeing you again." I say as I turn to walk back towards Venom's cave and Light says "We'll see you again, if not with another dragon then back at the capitol after your training is complete."

I throw a wave over my shoulder and fade back into the shadows making my way back to the wolfsbane field.

When I get back I can see Natsu laying down in the field asleep so I sneak up in shadow form until I'm next to him and I sit on his chest watching him.

When he opens his eyes he looks at me and sits up hugging me. "Luce I'm sorry if I did something to make you mad."

I hug him back and say "You didn't do anything I just needed some time to think, but you'll never guess who I saw."

His brow furrows in thought and he says "Was it Light and Shadow?" I look at him in surprise and he says "I thought I smelled them on the wind earlier but I wasn't sure until now."

I nod and he says "So what were you thinking about?" I wave it off but he says "No Luce I want to know, why were you so mad earlier?"

Looking away I say quietly "Because I'm not as strong as you."

"Baka you are the strongest, smartest, and most beautiful girl I've ever met." I shake my head and he says "Lucy look at me."

Looking at him, he says "Have I ever lied to you?" I shake my head and he says "Then why would I start now? Even in Fairy Tail you are the greatest girl there."

I hug him and he says "You really are a weirdo." I pull back and stick my tongue out at him. He sticks his out at me in response and I laugh at the silliness of it all.

He chuckles and says "Come on Weirdo lets go get some dinner." I stand and help him up before walking into the cave to eat and go to bed for the night.

 **~ Two weeks later ~ Natsu P.O.V.**

There is a saying, time flies by when you're having fun. Training with the poison dragon must have been fun though it was grueling because in what feels like the blink of an eye two weeks have already gone by.

Yawning and stretching I walk out of the passage to see Luce already sitting at the table eating breakfast. She smiles and I say "Morning Luce, Venom."

The elder dragon nods and I sit down next to Luce to down the greens as quick as possible and when I'm done I say "So what's on the agenda today?"

He smiles and says "Well I have to take a load of wolfsbane to the capital so while I'm gone I would like you two to practice your fang and claw strikes."

I frown and say "Can we go with you?" He shakes his head and says "No you only have another week here and there are still three more spells for you to learn."

Luce lays her hand on my arm and says "Don't worry Venom we'll practice our attacks." He nods and as he walks towards the entrance he says "I should be back before sunset."

Standing we walk to the entrance to watch him take off and pick up a large bag of flowers before angling towards the capital.

After he flies out of eyesight I turn to Luce and say "Wanna race?" She scowls and says "Venom told us to practice." I roll my eyes and say "Fine I understand if you're scared."

She huffs and says "I'm not scared I can kick your ass in a race but unlike you I listen to instructions or need I remind you of the nightshade incident."

Unconsciously my hand reaches up to feel the scar on my lower right cheek and say "That was one time and because it got out of control."

She frowns and says "Natsu, Venom had to call Grandeeney you were burned so bad." I huff and cross my arms saying "It's just a scar now, so come on lets go."

Turning around and walking back inside she says "No Natsu"

An idea flashes through my head and grinning I run up behind her and place a stigma on the back of her neck before picking her up and sinking into the shadows to get to the surprise sooner.

"Natsu let me down and remove this stigma at once."

"No way Luce not until we get to where we're going."

She growls and I say "Relax Luce we're almost there any way." After five minutes of flashing through the shadows I come out in a clearing with a waterfall and a deep blue pool.

Setting her down so she's facing me I remove the stigma and dodge the kick. I straighten up and say "Look behind you Luce."

She growls but turns around only to gasp. "Natsu how did you find this place?"

I grin and walk past her saying "Found it when I tried to find you that day you saw Shadow and Light."

Instead of waiting for a reply I run and jump into the pool and when I come back up for air Luce is sitting on the rocks by the edge watching me with a small smile.

"Natsu you know you are very cute when you want to be." To hide my blush at her words I dive back under the water.

I stay down there for about five minutes until I feel the water around me start to rise dragging me with it. Crossing my arms when the water bubble floats above the water I say "What was that for Luce?"

She grins and says "So I can do this number." and she drops the water sphere and me with it back into the pool from twenty feet above.

Coming back up I sputter and say "Can you give me a hand?" She nods and extends her hand towards me and I grab it and pull her in.

When she comes back up she grins and says "Alright take this." And she pushes me under the water holding me there for a minute until the pressure disappears and I pop back up.

Looking around I don't see Luce so I hop out saying "Luce where did you go?" Heating my core I dry off my clothes and track her scent into the woods towards a shadow.

"Luce why are you hiding in the shadows this time?" I say as I stand there.

When something lands on my shoulders I jump but calm down when I hear laughing and I look up to see Luce sitting on my shoulders giggling.

"Ha you should've seen your face that was priceless." I cross my arms and huff before starting the walk back to the wolfsbane field.

Luce figures out what I'm doing and says "Why are we going back so soon?" I point up to the sky where it's growing dark and she says "Right if we're gonna make it back in enough time we should shadow travel."

I nod and step into the shadow leaving Luce to walk on the ground but seconds later we're both shadows racing through the forest.

As we get closer I say "Last one back to the cave is rotten milkweed." She laughs and says "You're on."

When I reach the field I jump out of the shadow laughing and say "Ha I win." Stepping up she crosses her arms and growls.

Shaking her head she says "Come on lets get a bit of practice in before Venom gets back."

"What do you mean a bit of practice princess?" She freezes and I slowly turn around to see Venom walking to us from the direction of the cave.

"Venom when did you get back?" I say rubbing the back of my head with a wide grin on my face.

Venom snorts and says "Long enough to know you two shirked practice to go play in the forest."

Luce frowns and says "Please forgive us Venom." Stepping forward I say "Don't blame Lucy Venom it was my fault I wanted to show her a waterfall I found the other day."

He looks at me then at Luce and says "Very well apology accepted but Prince since you're taking responsibility for these actions, for the next few days you'll be taking care of the datura plants I just got in."

I nod and he says "Now it's time for dinner, afterwards I will show you what to do." We follow him into the cave and eat our dinner quietly.

After we finish Luce heads to her room while Venom leads me down a different hall and stops in front of a room where the door is ajar.

Walking in he points to a wall where several green sprouts are seen and says "Place those on the table then grab the basket of fertilizer next to them."

Following his orders I lay the stuff on the planting table in the middle of the room. "Venom how do the plants get light in here?" I say as I watch him dig holes in the dirt on the table.

Looking up he says "An ability of light dragons is to capture light in lacrimas so for different plants depending on their lighting needs I receive different lacrimas when Weisslogia and Skiadrum come here."

Finishing the holes he reaches up and pulls a string and ten seconds later a light of moderate brightness turns on over the table.

I turn my gaze up and can see three rows of five lacrima sitting in brackets over the table. "So then what do you do for the poisonous flowers that grow with less light?"

"After we finish planting these I'll show you how does that sound?" I nod and hand him the plants one by one watching as he gently tugs them from their holders and puts them in the holes on the table.

"You know you could help to speed this up." I grin at him sheepishly but copy his movements and before long all the sprouts are planted and we're spreading the fertilizer.

When a thin layer of fertilizer is spread across the table he says "Alright that's enough put the basket back and I'll show you some of the other plants."

Doing as he says I say "Do you group certain plants together that share the same amount of light?"

He shakes his head and as we walk down the hall he says "You want pure bred plants not hybrids, when I was about your age I had tried it but ended up ruining a crop of belladonna and foxglove."

Stopping in front of a door he says "This is nightshade so watch your nose." I nod and when we step inside my nose scrunches at the bitter smell the plants give off.

"Ugh and I thought milkweed smelled bad." He chuckles and says "Aye but in my opinion Adonis is the worst, any way what do you notice about the lighting?"

Looking up at the lighting over one of the tables I say "The lacrimas are dimmer and give off more of a bluer tone."

He nods and says "Nightshade blooms better with less light so to replicate this the light dragons make the lacrima give off less light."

"But what about the blue tint?"

He shakes his head and says "It's not from the lacrima, when the light starts to turn blue like that it means that the nightshade is almost ready to be harvested. I'll be harvesting them after you leave."

I nod and we walk back into the hall and as he shuts the door I say "How do you get used to smelling the different flowers all the time?"

"That's just it, it takes time for your nose to become immune to it. Speaking of time you should get to bed we start training early tomorrow."

I yawn and jog down the hallway towards my room as Venom walks the other way presumably to another room of poisonous flowers.

Three days later and we're standing in the field while Venom says "Now there is one last move for you to learn. Now it's not so much attack as it is a defensive move."

We look at him in confusion and Luce says "Why didn't we learn it in the beginning if it's defensive?"

"Because you had to become immune to the poisons first."

Luce and I share a look and turning back to Venom I say "Then lets get to it."

He nods and says "By now you can feel the poison as it runs through you just as the other elements do. This is important because you are gonna let the venom overrun forming a protective barrier or guard around you, it won't harm you as your body is immune to it but if an enemy comes in close range while your guard is up they'll become poisoned. The stronger the enemy the stronger the poison."

As he speaks an aura of poison starts to rise from the ground and surround him and when he finishes speaking it dissipates again.

"What you just saw is how the guard will act around you, now as I said earlier to bring up the guard simply let the poison overrun."

When I let the poison run I'm surprised to feel the same rush as if my flames took over but what's even more surprising is that as the guard rises scales start to cover my arms as if I'm fighting metal style.

Venom notices this and says "Excellent prince not many can have their scales appear so soon after learning the guard."

I look over at Luce and see her scales doing the same so I say "Venom are we allowed to fight each other like this or will the guard be ineffective?"

He thinks it over and says "It will be ineffective against each other but a fight will help improve that stamina you will need to keep the guard up. Guard does not need too much focus but you do need a bit of stamina to keep it up."

Nodding I turn to Luce and she says "Are you sure you really want to do this?"

Then something pops across my head and I say "You know we haven't used fire, sky, or metal magic in a while."

She raises an eyebrow and says "I'm listening."

Before I can say something Venom says "Absolutely not Prince, this sparring match is just with poison."

I groan and Luce says "Fine with me." Venom steps back and we slide into our fighting positions while drawing our guards again.

Jumping forward Luce yells "Poison Dragon's crushing fang." When she gets close enough I dodge and counteract yelling "Poison Dragon's spiral jaw."

Unable to dodge in enough time Luce takes the hit and slides back a few feet. She frowns and jumps forward again yelling "Poison Dragon's Roar."

Grinning I swallow the roar and Luce says "No fair Natsu."

I wipe my mouth before saying "All's fair in love and war Luce." She growls and before I know what's happening she's in front of me and saying "Poison Dragon's grip strike."

After being thrown back a good ten feet I pick myself up off the ground I dodge her "Poison Dragon's claw." and retaliate with "Poison Dragon's twin fang."

While she's gaining her senses I move in yelling "Poison Dragon's Typhoon." Just as she's getting up the wave of poison strikes and she's thrown across the clearing.

I start to get worried when she doesn't get up right away so I jog over and say "You ok Luce?"

After I say that she seems to come to her senses and says "Yea I'm alright you just knocked a couple screws loose is all."

I laugh and offer her a hand saying "Come on weirdo. Think you can continue?" When she's on her feet she nods and we walk back to our starting positions.

Before we move though Venom says "Princess you need to plant your feet, your fighting style mirrors the wind or water styles but for poison you need to be sturdy and steadfast such as metal."

Luce frowns and says "I didn't realize that I was thank you Venom." When Luce slides into her fighting position Venom says "Prince strike with a roar."

I nod and take a deep breath before yelling "Poison Dragon's Roar." This time when it hits Luce she doesn't slide but stays in her starting position.

We look at Venom when he says "Very good both of you I do believe I've taught you all I can, but I must say I've never had two students as talented or unrelenting as you two."

Luce smiles and I grin before saying "So who is the next dragon? And when do we meet him?"

Venom chuckles before saying "Acnologia will be here tomorrow to pick you up."

I throw my fist in the air and say "I'm fired up now."

* * *

 **So how was it? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know by leaving those faves, follows and reviews.**

 **I'm sorry I've been off track lately, my head has kind of been wrapped around a completely different story, but I won't drop that one until I finish Coincidence or Fate. As for this one we still have a LONG way to go. I'm talking like this story is gonna ended up being like 25 or 30 chapters long with how I'm planning.**

 **Until Chapter 9:**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. I love you, the readers, for wanting to read what I've come up with.**


	9. Acnologia

**Alrighty here's the next chapter. I have to say I'm loving all the support I'm getting from y'all on these stories.**

 **Now y'all are probably going "Grizzly why is it taking so long to get these chapters out?"**

 **Well the answer is that I've been kinda preoccupied. I've had this other story I've been writing on that I've been unable to tear my mind away from but no need to fear as you can see I'm still updating these.**

 **As for 'Coincidence of Fate?' I've been having trouble writing out that next chapter. Heh. Why am I bringing this up when this is Dragon King and Queen? Well just to give y'all a heads up when COF is finished that story I was just telling you about that has been distracting me so much, is gonna be taking up it's update days.**

 **As for Dragon Sanctuary, that one will be updated on the same days as COF but only when I can finish the chapters. If that confuses you check out my profile page by the time you read this chapter it'll be updated with the news.**

 **Back to this story.**

 **Now over the past few chapters I've been giving props to a special friend on here.**

 ** _Bluedog197_ , why does she deserve props?**

 **Guys she has like literally been helping me with ideas for how these chapters should be written. You know how I ask you to help by giving me ideas? She's been taking the initiative and giving me her thoughts on each chapter while it's being written and after she reads it. Now I'm not ragging on you guys for not helping but seriously if you have any ideas on how you want the chapters to turn out leave a review or P.M. me, trust me it's worth the while.**

 **Typically I leave hints as to what the next dragon is gonna be or hints of what will happen in the next chapter so if you pick up on it don't be afraid to let me know.**

 **For now I give you Chapter 9.**

* * *

Chapter 9

Acnologia

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

Yesterday was our last day of training with Venom and today we're sitting outside his cave in the wolfsbane field waiting for Acnologia to appear. As we wait I say to Natsu "Do you promise not to fight him?"

Natsu groans. "For the thousandth time Luce yes I promise not to fight him." I nod and sit down next to Natsu as we wait.

"What do you think the training will be like?" I look at him "We won't know until we get started."

He falls back so that he's staring at the sky with his arms behind his head "How long does it take one dragon to get here?"

"Prince, Acnologia's den is over a day's flight from here so you must be patient." Natsu sits up and looks at Venom giving him a sheepish smile.

I roll my eyes and say "Natsu isn't exactly the best role model for patience either."

When a shadow glides by overhead I look up and see a gray underbelly and black legs and wings with blues swirls covering the whole lot.

As Natsu stands up he says "Looks like our ride is here." I shake my head and wave to Venom before walking up to Acnologia "Good morning Acnologia."

The black dragon turns his head towards me and smiles "Hello Ms. Lucy, Hello Natsu." Natsu waves before climbing up to sit between Acnologia's shoulder blades.

The dragon extends his front long and says "Climb on Ms. Lucy it's time we be gone for we have a long way to fly.

As I jump up the dragon's leg I say "Is it true that it'll take over a day to reach your home?" Once I'm settled he extends his wings and takes off saying "Aye but about half way there we will be stopping so we can take a rest."

"Acnologia you don't need to push yourself for us, as it is we are ahead of schedule with our training so we can afford a day for you to rest."

I look over to see Natsu sawing logs so I get up and walk towards the dragon's head as he says "Nonsense I'm not pushing myself at all, pushing myself would be flying from one end of the realm to the other, so flying from Venom's home to mine is nothing."

A small smile spreads across my face "If you say so." He chuckles and silence reigns as we fly over the territories.

When the sun starts to set Acnologia lands in a clearing. "Alright you two slide off." Natsu jumps off looking around. "We're here already?"

After Acnologia changes form he shakes his head. "No this is where we're stopping for the night. We take off again at daybreak for now though I'll go hunting, Natsu can you start a fire?"

Natsu nods and we split up, he and I gathering fire wood while the dragon disappears into the woods to find dinner.

After the fire is built and Acnologia sets the meat to cooking I say "Acnologia what is the difference between chaos and the shadows?"

He looks up from where he was staring at the fire and says "Shadows are just the absence of light while chaos is just that, chaos."

"What do you mean by that?" I look over to see Natsu watching the conversation intently as Acnologia clears his throat.

"When I attacked Tenrou I saw something that you fairies carry proudly in your marks, that something is hope. Hope for a better life, hope to live to see a new day, but most of all the hope that your friendship would see you through. Chaos is the exact opposite of that, take every negative feeling you've ever had. That is chaos."

Natsu pulls the skewers off the fire to cool and says "So what you're saying is that this magic feeds on every negative emotion we've ever felt?"

The dragon's face scrunches in thought and he says "Yes and no, yes it feed on negative feelings but it doesn't just feed on yours, it feeds on any in the surrounding area. With chaos magic you have to be careful though."

As Natsu hands me a skewer I say "How so?" Acnologia tears a piece of meat off of his skewer before saying "Because with chaos magic if you let it overrun you, all light that you carry in your soul will die, and you will become a mindless beast that only seeks death and destruction."

We frown and I say "So then why did my mother wish us to learn this?" Acnologia gives a small smile and says "Because, Ms. Lucy, in order to see the positive in the world you must also see the chaos that lives beneath the surface. However there is an upside to learning this magic."

He finishes eating and stands up before saying "Once you master this magic you will be able to see the light and darkness that resides in one's soul, and if need be you can separate the two but that is a discussion for another time. Now it is time to get some sleep there is a long flight ahead of us tomorrow and when we land we begin training."

As he climbs one of the trees for a branch to sleep on we stand and Natsu says "Come on Luce when I was picking up wood I found a good sized tree we can sleep in."

The next morning Natsu is shaking me awake. "Luce, Lucy come on Acnologia is ready to leave." I groan and roll over only to feel myself falling but when I open my eyes he has his arm around my waist.

"Jeez weirdo did you forget you were in a tree?" I look up at him from where I'm still hanging and he laughs when I nod.

"Ms. Lucy, Natsu it's time to go we have a long flight ahead of us." Looking down I see Acnologia standing there underneath us frowning.

"Sorry Acnologia, Natsu drop me I can catch myself." Natsu grunts but lets me go and as I start falling again I grab a branch and swing my way down until I drop next to Acnologia.

The dragon turns and walks back to the clearing while Natsu climbs down the tree to land next to me. "What's gotten under his scales?"

I scowl and say "Maybe for the fact that we were supposed to leave earlier since it'll take so long to get to his home." He looks at me and shrugs before jogging after the dragon.

When I reach the clearing Acnologia has already transformed and Natsu is sitting on his back waiting for me.

Jumping up I settle next to Natsu and without another word Acnologia takes off again flying at a slow and steady pace.

After about an hour he says "Since it'll be a few more hours until we reach my home I've decided you will start your training on the way there."

Turning his head back towards us he says "To start out you need only meditate." We relax at his words and as we settle into our positions he says "Remove your limiters as well you need to know just how much your power has grown and how to control it as well."

I frown but take off my limiters and place them in my key pouch even as Natsu removes his and places them in a pocket. The power that shoots through my body is like a sugar rush times ten and I feel like I could run forever but the dragon says "Now slow your breathing and take control."

Doing so the whirlpool of energy calms down. "Excellent now I want you to focus on all the negative thoughts and feelings you can feel around you. Feel it gathering and condense it until it is nothing more than a ball of darkness before you."

Even though my eyes are closed I can see but not in normal colors. Everything is black and white but for certain colored auras that surround Acnologia, Natsu and myself, and as I look closer it clicks that the different auras are our emotions.

Natsu has a brilliant red that I can only believe to be anger while cooler blue flows through and as I watch the two almost dance together before flowing in different directions.

Looking past the anger and the calm I can see sadness or melancholy which radiates as a darker purple, a cheerfulness or his child side pops up at random intervals in a blinding yellow before being taken over by the blue of calm.

Looking even closer I soon find the wisp that is his chaos, it's no more than the size of a small flame compared to his anger but once I find it I quickly grab hold before retreating back to the bigger picture.

Turning to Acnologia I'm surprised to find a gray aura of neutrality that surrounds him, but just as with Natsu I push past until I find the other emotions.

Unlike Natsu who's chaos was like a small flame, Acnologia's makes up most of his aura while happiness, sadness, and calmness are only after thoughts. What truly surprises me though is how much anger hides under the small flame of calm.

Before I get lost any further in the dragon's emotions I grab the thread of chaos and pull myself back to the bigger picture and back to my body, and opening my eyes I find a ball of inky blackness floating a foot in front of me.

Even as I watch I can make out the thread of emotion that comes from both males. Breaking my position I reach a hand out and the ball of chaos stretches out rolling over my fingers and up my hand before falling back to sit in my palm.

"Excellent work Ms. Lucy you're a natural." When I smile at his praise I notice the ball of chaos shrink again. As I watch this a theory spreads through my mind and I turn to look at the dragon.

"Acnologia does the chaos fade when positive emotions take over?" He nods and with a voice of sadness he says "You'll have noticed when you looked through the emotions but cheerful is not big in my spector and it cannot be or else I look contact with the chaos around me."

I frown but I'm tackled into a hug before I can ask another question. "Natsu what's wrong?" He pulls back and I notice the tears in his eyes.

"Luce why didn't you tell me?" I look at him in confusion and he elaborates further. "Why didn't you tell me the happiness is fake? Why didn't you tell me you hold on to so much?"

Comprehension floods through and I hug him back. "Baka my emotions are for me to deal with and not all my happiness is fake. I'm truly happy when I'm with you and the guild."

He pulls back and scowls. "Lucy I know what I saw." I give him a peck on the lips and mumble "Because somethings are harder to handle than others."

His forehead touches mine with remorse in his eyes. "Alright tell you what when we get back to the guild read my emotions there and you'll see I'm telling the truth."

Even as he nods Acnologia starts descending in a shallow dive. "Ms. Lucy, Natsu let me give you a bit of advice when it comes to handling your emotions. Don't dwell on what you see at the moment because emotions change all the time, what you may have read off of someone an hour ago is not what you'll read a week from now."

We nod and when he lands I climb down his front leg while Natsu jumps off his tail like usual. As Acnologia changes form I'm surprised to find that we're in what looks like a desert with sand dunes as far as the eye can see while the sun sets behind a range of mountains in the distance.

Turning around I jog to catch up to Natsu and the dragon as they disappear into the mouth of the cave. When we walk in the dragon doesn't stop but instead leads us deep underground with nothing but the dark to guide us even with our night vision.

After walking for about two hours the darkness begins to lighten and soon I can make out the silhouettes of both males five feet ahead of me.

Another five minutes pass before Acnologia stops and holds out his arm. "Ms. Lucy, Natsu beyond this point is the pride of the chaos dragon. Generation upon generation have worked to dig it out and make it livable."

He turns towards us and we can see the pride that glows in his eyes but is tempered with something I can't quite figure out. "Ms. Lucy on the way here you found out that positive emotions dim the chaos and I told you that I cannot focus on the positive or else I lose the connection to chaos."

I can tell from the look on Natsu's face that he is as confused as I am as to where this is heading but it's resolved when Acnologia says "There is another part to that, just as the day needs the night, negative needs the positive to stay in balance. If a chaos dragon was to be overwhelmed by the darkness it would result in utter destruction to prevent that we as an element class created a kind of sanctuary where we come to equalize or balance out the chaos."

"So what you're saying is that what we're about to see is a chaos dragon shangri la?" He nods and drops his arm allowing us to pass and enter the cavern.

I'm sorry, please forgive me, it's not a cavern but an underground world. It's an entire ecosystem with everything from a source of heat and light that resides in the middle if the ceiling to a forest with birds flying overhead.

In the bushes snuffling and snorting can be heard from different species of herbivores as well as the sound of water lapping at a shore.

While I stand there in shock Natsu disappears into the bush only to reappear moments later with a grin on his face. "Luce you have to come check this out." Snapping out of my shock and awe I follow Natsu through the bush only to step out on a sandy beach that disappears into a dark blue sea.

He grabs my wrist and starts pulling me down the beach towards a rather large hut that sits back aways from the water's edge.

We stop at the foot of the ramp and Acnologia says "Go on up you two check out your home for the next month. Change into some clean clothes then meet me back out here to continue your training."

He turns away to disappear into the treeline and we walk up the ramp and through the doorway. Instead of having actual doors and windows each doorway and window frame only has a curtain.

After we find our rooms we quickly get changed and make our way back outside to find Acnologia standing in front of three sets of six targets.

"Now since you've found the pull of chaos we'll go straight into learning the spells." He folds one arm behind him and brings the other up until it's level with his side, palm facing up, and when he flicks his wrist a ball of black floats an inch off his skin.

"Now just as you would call forth a flame so you too will call forth the chaos, but you will keep it bound to your hand. Once you accomplish that we'll move onto the first spell."

After I move a few feet away from Natsu I again draw on the threads of emotion and before long a ball of chaos similar in size to the one before appears hovering over the palm of my hand.

"Excellent Natsu, Ms. Lucy now the first spell is 'Chaos Dragon's nightmare darts'. Take the chaos orb in your hands and divide it into several smaller orbs then aim at the target. When you're sure of your aim cock your arm back and cast the spell as you swing your arm forward."

As he explains how to do the spell he also shows us and cast the spell leaving several solid pitch black darts sticking out of a target. He steps backs and Natsu steps up copying his movements to the letter but when he throws it, the darts land scattered across the targets and the ground around them.

"Not bad Natsu, but narrow your focus and the darts will land true." Natsu nods and steps back for me to step up.

When I step forward I take a deep breath and divide the chaos orb in my hands into ten pieces before drawing my arm back and as I swing it around I focus on just one target. "Chaos Dragon's nightmare darts."

Ten thunks are heard and when I step forward I can't help the grin that spreads across my face. All ten darts are stuck in the target with an inch of each other.

"Well done Ms. Lucy but now you should focus on creating more darts." I turn to him in confusion and he pulls up another orb of chaos and quickly divides it into well over thirty darts.

"The more darts you create the more coverage you can guarantee." I nod and walk back to stand next to Natsu before Acnologia goes on.

"Now the darts don't just have a physical effect to them, they also have a mental effect. Depending on how many darts the enemy is hit with they can suffer anything from hallucinations to downright scaring them to death."

I look down at the darts in my hand and back up at Acnologia. "How many darts for death?" He looks thoughtful for minute before saying "It depends on the strength of the person they hit."

Looking back down at the darts I grin and bounce the darts up and down in my hand. "Hey Natsu want to see what a dart does?" I turn my gaze to him and he pales considerably.

"Eh Luce why don't you throw them at the targets and we'll fight with them when we learn more spells." I pout and he shakes his head.

Growling I walk over and casting the spell throw the darts again. This time there are more darts but less hit the target.

"Ha you call that a throw watch this." We switch spots and Natsu throws but this time none of his hit a target. "What was that? You didn't hit the target once."

He turns to me an eyebrow raised. "Oh yea lets see you take twenty darts and hit every target at least once." Outwardly I cool, calm, and collected but on the inside I'm freaking out.

 _'Twenty? I can barely do ten as is.'_ Stepping up again I quickly split the sphere into ten but start struggling with the last ten. After five minutes I finally split the twentieth dart and set up to throw them but stop before I sling.

Taking my time I will the magic to go where I want it to and then I throw, closing my eyes with the gesture. When I hear the thunks meaning the darts hit I open my eyes to see all twenty darts buried in the targets.

Smirking I turn to see Natsu speechless for the first time since I met him. "What's the matter Natsu did you doubt my abilities?"

He closes his mouth and shakes his head as Acnologia downright laughs at the situation. The dragon looks up at the ceiling when the light starts to dim and says "Alright you two training's over for the day. As for dinner we'll take turns hunting everyday, since I hunted yesterday you, Natsu, hunt today and tomorrow you, Ms. Lucy, will go."

Natsu's chaos orb disappears and he takes off into the bushes following the scent of boar that's been blowing through for the last half hour while Acnologia walks to the targets and eats the darts.

After watching Acnologia for a few more minutes I walk back into the hut to see what I can come up with for dinner along with the meat Natsu will bring back.

Half an hour later Natsu walks in with a small skinned boar hanging over his shoulder and an hour later we're eating dinner.

 **~One Week Later~ Natsu P.O.V.**

"Chaos Dragon's Wing Attack." I jump to the left and avoid Lucy's attack while retaliating with "Chaos Dragon's Roar."

It's been a week since we started training with Acnologia and we're already having our first sparring match.

Jumping back I dodge a set of nightmare darts only to fall into Lucy's chaos fist and after flying through a couple trees I pick myself up and throw a spread of darts at Luce.

She manages to dodge all but two of the darts, but she pulls them out and keeps moving forward yelling "Chaos Dragon's double strike." Even as she gets close I can see the nightmare from the darts start to take effect.

Her eyes glaze over and her movements become erratic, when she straightens up from the attack she looks to her left and starts muttering.

Stepping closer I can make barely make out "Papa why are you here?" I reach out and grab her arm before she take off but she turns her head and hisses at me.

Quietly I say "Luce, it's me Natsu you need to calm down and focus. Your dad is dead he died three years ago." She looks at me in shock and shakes her head.

"No Papa is right over there he's waiting for me." I shake my head. "Luce you were hit with nightmare darts do you remember what the effects of getting hit is?"

She tilts her head and says "How do I know you're not the illusion here to take Papa from me?"

"Lucy focus your dad is not here, I am. See for yourself." She turns her head back and I smell tears before she yanks her arm out of my grasp and disappears into the bushes.

I take off after following her scent as I hear her crying out for her father. As I follow I start to call her name and after an hour of chasing her I find her collapsed on the ground crying.

"Lucy." She looks up and screams and tries to take off again but I grab her before she can and wrap her in a tight hug.

Running my hand through her hair I say quietly "Shh it's alright Luce, I got you." After a little while she stops crying "He left me."

Pulling away I grab her chin so that I can look her in the eye and say "Luce he wasn't here in the first place, it was delusion caused by the nightmare darts."

Tears fall again as she sobs but through the hiccups I can make out "But *hic* seemed *hic* so *hic* real."

"I know it does Luce, trust me I know." The sobs quiet down and eventually she falls asleep in my arms. With a sigh I pick her up bridal style and carry her back to the hut, and lay her down in her bed.

"Negative reaction to the dart?" I nod and walk out her room past Acnologia who's leaning in the doorway.

"It's to be expected getting struck the first time. Luckily she didn't go destructive like you did." I groan at the memory and say "Don't remind me."

He chuckles. "At least you didn't blow up an entire volcano." I look at the chaos dragon in surprise and he nods.

"My parents were fire dragons, but since chaos dragons were dwindling at such an alarming rate a good amount of dragons from my generation chose this magic."

Sitting at the table I watch as he pours a cup of tea before joining me. "What happened to the the others?"

He sighs and his features take on a look of grief. "When hunters entered one of the portals the nest they attacked was of hibernating chaos dragons. One of the only times a dragon is vulnerable is when they're hibernating because the body shuts down and the only thing that will wake them is when the six months is up."

I nod in understanding. "How many were left after the nest was attacked?" He downs his tea before replying quietly. "Only myself and an elder. I had been chosen to forego the hibernation and stay in the capital while the elder had been traveling to say his final goodbyes before he passed on."

"How long until more chaos dragons rise?" He stands and walks to a window before saying "It'll be another century before a generation is ready, unless the portals are open."

Understanding floods through me. "How long will it be after the portals are opened?" He looks back at me in alarm and says "The portals will only be opened when the prophecy says you can't force them open before hand, as for the generation I have more then enough years left to wait."

Frowning I look at the table. "Natsu I'm not as alone as you may think that is why I generally spend my time at the capital instead of here, I only come here every few months to check on the spells that allow the ecosystem to thrive."

I look at him in surprise "How the hell did you know what I was thinking?" He chuckles and sits back down at the table. "It's not hard to figure out, when you're not fighting you wear your heart on your sleeve and I've had over a millennium to master reading someone's emotions."

When the light starts dimming I look out the window to see the 'daylight' fading fast. "Natsu you stay here and watch over Ms. Lucy, I'll go hunt for dinner." With a glance back at me the dragon disappears out the doorway and his footsteps recede down the ramp.

Getting up I walk into Lucy's room to find her sleeping peacefully and as I sit next to her bed my mind flashes back to a couple days before when I felt the nightmare's effect.

 **~Flashback~**

 _Even as we're learning the 'Chaos Dragon's Roar' we're still practicing with the nightmare darts only now to strike a certain amount of targets with only a few darts._

 _Standing a good hundred feet from the target I gather a chaos orb in front of me and cast the spell. "Chaos Dragon's Roar." The spell hits dead on and blast through multiple trees behind it._

 _"Excellent Natsu, now on to darts." I groan and walk away from the target as Luce steps up. Acnologia stands off to the side watching as we train so I decide to join him._

 _"So why exactly are we training with the darts so much anyway?" I watch as Luce throws her first round of darts which most hit the target._

 _"Because by working with the darts when it comes to sparring, if you're hit by one it'll lessen the damage done to you." I nod and as Luce charges up her next round I step forward behind the target._

 _Luce frowns and Acnologia says "No Natsu it's too soon to be getting hit by the darts." I shrug and when Luce turns towards Acnologia who nods._

 _Once the darts are charged she slings them, majority of the darts strike the target but four darts fly over the target and hit me knocking me on my ass._

 _Groaning I sit up and rub the back of my head from where it hit a tree stump. "Seriously Luce? Even your darts pack a punch."_

 _Realizing I had closed my eyes I open them to see Luce offering me a hand and Acnologia shaking his head. As I stand up my ears catch chuckling from somewhere behind me._

 _Freezing I swivel my head and catch a shadow jumping between the trees. "What's the matter Natsu surprised to see me again?" I growl and tear off after the voice ignoring the calls behind me._

 _I stop in a clearing when I hear "Lucy destroyed my future so now I'll destroy yours." Looking around I see the splash of white and black that can only be Future Rogue._

 _"Come out here and fight me, Rogue, I stopped you once I'll stop you again." Chuckling again and a shadow races across a tree._

 _Moving on instinct I jump forward yelling "Fire Dragon's Iron fist." and knock down the tree where the shadow was._

 _"Still as weak and pathetic as ever I see." Turning my head from left to right I pinpoint where his voice is coming from and take off through the trees again, this time knocking down any in my way._

 _When the voice stops I grow frustrated. "Future Rogue come out here and fight me." A shadow starts to grow around me and I feel myself being sucked in._

 _Just as my vision goes black I'm aware of Luce trying to say something, and when I wake up I'm back in the hut with Luce sitting at the side of my bed._

 **~End Flashback~**

Shaking my head to get rid of the memories I look over to see Luce quietly watching me. "Do I have something on my face weirdo?"

She frowns and says "You were thinking about Future Rogue again weren't you?" I'm saved from having to reply when I smell stew simmering in the kitchen.

I stand up and stretch before offering a hand to her. "Come on weirdo lets go get dinner." She takes my hand and we walk into the kitchen to see Acnologia stirring the pot.

When he sees us he smiles "Ah you're awake how are you feeling?" She gives a small smile and settles at the table while I grab bowls from a pantry.

"I'm doing ok considering what just happened. I do have a question though." He turns to her with an eyebrow raised and she says "How do the nightmare darts actually work, I mean Natsu saw Future Rogue but I saw my father how is that possible?"

The dragons fills the bowls with stew before sitting down and entwining his fingers together to form an arch.

"Nightmare darts take our most hated foes, our biggest fears, and what we wish for the most in the world and makes it come to life for us. Every little emotion you have locked away it brings to the forefront of our minds. Now like I said the first day of training it depends on how many darts someone is hit with and this is why I believe Natsu saw an old foe the way he did. You had been hit four darts which gave the magic quite a bit of free reign over your mind."

We nod and as I stand up to refill my bowl Luce says "So then why did I see my father?"

Acnologia sets his bowl down before saying "Quite simple really, you had been hit with two darts and since it takes longer for the magic to complete its work with less darts it went for something that was easier to conjure up for your senses."

While we take in what he said he stands and puts his bowl in the sink before saying "It's late and we have a long day of training tomorrow, from now on you will not use the darts against each other. Meaning when you train with them only use the targets."

He disappears down the hall to his room and not much later we follow his example.

A week and a half later and we're in a three way sparring match. "Natsu give me a hand." Turning around I grab Luce to boost her in the air as Acnologia strikes me with a roar.

Jumping back up I watch Luce land a double strike as I move forward yelling "Chaos Dragon's Wing Attack." The attack hits the dragon head on but he still stands.

"Is that all you have? I thought you were stronger then that." I tense up at the dragon's words and move around to his front while Luce moves to his back.

Taking a deep breath I use "Chaos Dragon's Roar." While Luce hits him with a wing attack and before he can muster a defense I move in getting in close enough to land a grip strike.

The hit knocks him back across the clearing and leaves him panting. "Ok so you two work well together, lets see how you do against this."

He gathers a chaos orb in the beginning for a nightmare dart but as he cast the spell he says "Chaos Dragon's Nightmare 100 Dart formation."

As the darts form my mind kicks into overdrive and I use the first spell that occurs to me. Slamming my palm on the ground I yell "Fire Dragon's Barricade."

A thick wall of fire rises between Acnologia and I and when the darts hit the barricade they turn into ash. Standing back up the fire wall dissipates leaving a charred ring around me and most of the clearing behind me.

"Excellent reaction time Natsu and excellent defense, that goes for you as well Ms. Lucy, but while you train with me you only use chaos. I thought that was understood."

I scratch the back of my head in embarrassment as Luce lowers her water shield. "Sorry Acnologia I reacted on instinct." He nods and slides in fighting form. "Again, this time only Chaos magic."

Huffing I turn and walk back to my starting spot while Luce walks to hers. Standing there I watch the others as I plan my attack and jump when Acnologia throws a roar at me.

Grinning I jump yelling "Chaos Dragon's Roar." While he's still absorbing the hit I slide forward until I'm standing behind him and grabbing him by the shoulder say "Chaos Dragon's Double Strike."

The first hit knocks him in the air and the second crashes him into the ground again. Dodging Lucy's claw attack I swing up with "Chaos Dragon's Iron Fist" broadsiding her.

Walking forward to go after Luce I miss Acnologia coming up behind me until he grabs me by the back of my neck and says "Hell's Rage"

The force of the attack sends me through the trees and almost into the water. Standing up I catch my breath before ducking to avoid a roar and rolling forward into the bushes for cover as I plan my next step.

Unfortunately the cover doesn't last long as Luce strikes with a wing attack. "What the hell Luce? I thought you were on my side." I yell as I once again pick myself up.

The spell she was getting ready to use disappears as she stops and frowns. "Natsu this is supposed to be everyone for themselves."

With her being distracted talking to me Acnologia appears on her left and catches her with an iron fist. "It's true but remember you two, you can't get distracted in battle. Now stop talking and get back to sparring."

Even as Acnologia says that I jump from hiding and land another double strike on him while also managing to dodge Lucy's roar.

"Wow Acnologia, the prince and princess have certainly done a number on you haven't they?" We stop at the sound of the voice and turn to see a slim wiry dragon with bright spiky blond hair grinning at the dark dragon.

Acnologia steps forward and frowns. "Spark you're not supposed to be here until tomorrow." The other dragon shrugs and says "Eh all the preparations are done and I wanted to see the prince and princess spar before we begin training."

Luce walks up to my side and at the look of confusion on our faces Acnologia says "Ms. Lucy, Natsu this is Spark, the lightning dragon. He's your next teacher.

Spark steps up and bows. "Hello Prince, Princess nice to meet you." Scowling I turn to Acnologia "When were you gonna tell us?"

"After our sparring match was done." The lightning dragon straightens up and says "Prince those were some well placed hits, you are very strong indeed."

I look over to see Luce getting mad so before she goes off on the lightning for ignoring her I say "Spark we were not done with our sparring match, after we finish then we can talk more."

He nods and steps back out of the clearing as we walk back to our starting positions. Whispering so only Luce can hear "Luce I'm sure he didn't mean to ignore you on purpose."

In an equally low tone she replies "If he keeps doing it I'm gonna teach him a lesson." I look at her in worry even as I dodge a fist from Acnologia and counter with a grip strike.

Grabbing the chaos dragon I throw him at Luce who takes the cue and takes over attacking, quickly trading blows with him.

Trusting Luce to keep Acnologia busy I turn to the lightning dragon. "Spark you would do well to not ignore Lucy."

He looks at me in confusion. "But you are the stronger of the two." I shake my head and duck avoiding the body being thrown my way.

Turning back around I attack yelling "Chaos Dragon's Claw." knocking Acnologia back across the clearing and to Luce.

Before Luce can land another hit Acnologia stands up and say "Alright you two have proved your point you've learned Chaos, congratulations."

Luce walks over and we high five before turning to the chaos dragon. "Thank you Acnologia for willing to teach us your magic."

Acnologia smiles and says "It was my pleasure to teach you two and I look forward to seeing you at the capitol after you complete your training with the three remaining dragons."

We turn to follow Spark to the cave leading to the surface but as we leave the clearing Luce turns back and hugs Acnologia before running to catch up just as I'm entering the darkness.

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 **Well? Did you like it? Leave me a review with what you thought. and like I said earlier don't be afraid to shoot your ideas my way.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Don't let the chaos take control. ;)**


	10. Spark

**Guys let me tell you right now this is the longest chapter so far. At 7,760 words without the A/N it took me quite a while to complete.**

 **Now normally I only have _Bluedog197_ to thank for the ideas but this I have _StrikeForceHeroeTeller_ to thank as well, he gave me the idea for a more militaristic den and so why not take it a step further? Wanna know how? Go read Chapter 10.**

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Chapter 10

Spark

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After about two hours of walking and listening to nothing but breathing and footsteps the cave starts to lighten. Picking up our pace until we're running we burst out onto the desert, and stop in our tracks to look up at the sky.

Even though it's night out it doesn't matter because for the first time in a month I can see the stars that I love so much. Reaching out I tap Natsu and point at the sky.

"Natsu look it's Loke's constellation." He follows the direction I'm pointing and grins. "Alright you two it's time we go." We turn around to see Spark transformed into his true form.

Natsu jumps up first and gives me a hand up the dragon's back leg, once we're settled the dragon takes off and I take the chance to look the dragon over.

His head is a little more slender than Grandeeney's but thicker than Aqua's with whiskers that stretch about six feet from his face. His horns are long and slender but as I watch I can see lightning fly back and forth in between them.

The rest of his body takes on a more serpentine look almost that of a snake presumably easier to twist and turn through the skies. His wings are a pale yellow and lightning can be seen running over the membranes.

His front and back legs curl up to seem almost nonexistent but when he spreads them out they're as big around as tree trunks. His tail is about ten feet long and end in two horns that match the ones on his head, while the scales that cover his hide gleam with a dull gold.

When the exhaustion from today crashes down on me I yawn and lean on Natsu's' shoulder deciding to close my eyes for a few minutes. The next time I wake up is because Natsu is shaking me awake saying "Hey Luce, time to wake up, we're almost there."

I nod and stand up to stretch only to crouch as Spark dodges a lightning strike. Looking back as he dodges another lightning strike I can see his tail moving in large circles allowing him to change directions quickly.

Falling to my knees I crawl to the edge of his back and look down. Just like that time all those months ago when we flew with Grandeeney through Lightning Territory the ground is impossible to see through the darkness except for the lightning that strikes every couple of seconds.

Looking ahead I can make out a glow in the distance and as we closer I can make out some type of camp, the glow coming from the walls of the encampment.

Sitting up I look over to see Natsu sitting in between Spark's horns and when I laugh he looks back at me with an eyebrow raised. "What's so funny?"

Holding my stomach from laughing so hard I point to his hair and he reaches up to feel it standing up in all directions. The spikes that make up his hair have fallen apart and every strand is standing straight out.

"Alright weirdo now that you've had your laugh come check out the dens." Perking up at the sound of multiple dragons I crawl forward, yelping when Spark dodges another strike, to sit far enough away from his horns so that my hair doesn't end up like Natsu's.

Looking over the dragon's head I have a better view of the encampment which is actually quite large, with well over a hundred dunes that upon closer inspection look more like caves. Past the caves sits a large training area that has several post standing over a hundred feet tall.

As Spark starts descending he warns us to hold on and tucks into a steep dive, his wings flaring out in enough time to halt our drop and land safely on what looks like a runway.

Sliding off first I look up and down the runway to see multiple cave entrances lining both sides. "Spark what is this place?"

The dragon walks up behind me in human form. "Princess this is the Royal Regiment, first battalion of the royal army. All guards in the capitol are lightning dragons, we follow the queen's command to protect the dragon realm. Now if you two will follow me, we'll get your belongings and I'll show you to your barracks"

He turns on his heel and starts walking down a side road in between two of the caves, and we jog to catch up. Natsu turns to look as we walk and says "Spark are these all caves?"

The lightning dragon shakes his head and gestures towards one. "Negative Prince these are hollowed out hills that we use for anything from housing to work space. Some are also used as dens for mated dragons who have eggs or hatchlings."

After walking for a solid fifteen minutes he stops in front of a low hill lined with several different door ways and opens up the closest one to us. He disappears inside but reappears a few minutes later with a set of clothing with heavy boots for Natsu and I.

"This is your training uniform. While you are here you will train, eat, sleep, and fight as a lightning dragon."

I look at Natsu and he shrugs. "We've handled worse, so throw everything you got at us." Spark gives us a odd look but shrugs and continues down the road towards another hill that has small windows and only a set of double doors at one end.

"Another thing Prince and Princess is that you'll be sleeping in separate bunkers while you train. Now as far as I understand you two have trained together with the other elements is that correct?"

When we nod he continues. "Then this will certainly be a change of pace for you. Prince you will be training with the males, while Princess will be training with the females. Every other day both train together so you will see each other then or at the mess hall. Now breakfast is at 0530 and training starts at 0600. Any questions?"

Seeing what Natsu is about to say I jump in. "Breakfast is at 5:30 in the morning and training starts at 6:00, military personnel run on a 24 hour timer instead of reading it as every 12 hours."

He nods and Spark looks at me in surprise. Seeing his look I raise an eyebrow and he says "Forgive me I was under the impression the Prince was the one with the smarts while he just chose you because of your looks."

I growl but when I go to take a step forward Natsu grabs my wrist. "Easy Luce, come on lets get to our barracks so we can get ready for training in a few hours."

Looking back at the lightning dragon who actually looks kind of scared I huff and shrug my wrist out of Natsu's hand. Spark snaps out of it and points to the barrack. "Princess this is where you'll be staying with the other females."

I nod and Natsu and Spark walk off towards, I would assume, the males barrack. Taking a deep breath I slide the door open and am surprised to find a few female dragons awake either sitting in their bunks or playing a card game in the back of the bunker.

The females stop what they're doing and look at me even as I look at them but one with short blond hair gets up and walks over offering her hand.

"Hello Princess, I'm Valerie the leader of this barrack." Smiling I meet her handshake and say "Please call me Lucy."

She nods and backs away a step allowing me to enter. "Well Lucy, welcome to barrack 18." Walking past me she points to a bunk and then a door at the back of the barrack. "This is you bunk and the bathroom is back there, we can do introductions tomorrow at breakfast. For right now though it's lights out."

The other dragons hop into their bunks while I get changed and do the same. Almost as soon as I close my eyes I'm waking up, getting changed, and standing at attention next to my bunk for roll call.

After roll call while we're walking to the mess hall Valerie introduces me to the ten other dragons that share the barrack.

Looking around as we walk the sights and sizes of the base compared to at night doesn't change by much except for the fact that the sky is a dark gray instead of black.

More dragons roam the grounds, some jogging in file, others standing at attention and as we pass the training grounds I can see some setting up what looks like an obstacle course.

"Princess what is it like to be an elemental?" I turn to the one who asked, a short blunette with strikingly yellow eyes that goes by the name Ame.

"Ame you can just call me Lucy as for your question there's really not much difference besides the fact that I'm more attune to the elements around me." She nods at my answer and as we enter the mess hall I look for Natsu.

When I don't see him I pull a poker face and sit at a table with the others who are already piling food on their plates, but every time the doors open I look up to see if it's him and return to my food when it's not.

Just as I finishing my plate I hear a thunk and look at the table to see a nightmare dart standing straight up in front of me. Smiling I look around and spot him sitting three tables over with the males of his barrack.

Covering my mouth with my hand I hide my laugh at how short his hair is and he scowls. Locking eyes with him I mouth 'What happened?' He grins and mouths back 'Tell you later.' I narrow my eyes and he pouts.

Giving him a small smile I turn back around to see the others staring at the dart in the table. Valerie goes the reach for the dart but I grab it first and dissipate it.

Valerie narrows her eyes and the dragon next to me, Elektra, says "Lucy what was that?" I smile and reply quietly "Just a gesture saying look at me."

The others look at me in confusion but Valerie gives me a knowing smirk. "So Lucy what elements do you already know?"

"Let me see there's fire, sky, metal, shadow, light, water, poison, chaos, and now I'm here to learn yours." As I'm saying this each element pops up in my hand for a few seconds before disappearing again.

Valerie nods and she returns to eating her food. Ten minutes later we're standing on one side of the training ground while the guys stand on the other. Sergeant Spark, as the dragon's call him stands in the middle.

"Now listen up dragons today we're doing an obstacle course, male versus female, the side who has the slowest times have sentry duty for the next year." Looking around I can see grins on everyone's faces including Natsu's and when I catch his eye I issue him a challenge.

He slightly nods his head in agreement and we turn our gaze back to Sergeant Spark and the obstacle course as the first dragons go.

Pair by pair one male and one female step up and at the signal take off through the obstacle course climbing over the twenty foot wall, through the mud pits, over the hurdles, across the balance beams, around one of the post, and back again hitting a button at the starting line which pulls their time's up on a lacrima next to Sergeant Sparks.

At last it's our turn and as we step up to the starting line I say quietly "Natsu lets make this a little sweeter." He cast a glance my way and I grin.

"If I win when we get back to Earthland every time someone calls your name you have to cluck like a chicken." He's quiet but nods.

"And if I win, well I'll tell you after I win." I glance at him just as the signal flashes. Taking off I reach the wall first but he isn't far behind as I reach the top and hurl myself over landing on my feet.

Setting off again I reach the mud pits just as Natsu is taking off from the wall and ducking under the electric wire make it out and start for the hurdles. As I jump the hurdles I hear him say in a pant "Face it Luce you can't beat me."

Grinning I jump up to the balance beam and quickly make my way across. Jumping down from the beam I hear a yelp from behind me and when I round the post I see Natsu struggling to climb out of the waist deep mud under the beams.

About halfway across the beam my foot slips but I'm able to recover and take off again reaching the hurdles in no time flat and finishing the last half of the course in less time than it took to complete the first half.

Catching my breath I turn to see Natsu just coming back over the wall with a frown on his face and after he crosses the finish line he sees me and scowls but heads back to his spot in the file while I walk back to mine as the times ring up on the lacrima.

When they appear the dragons gasp and murmur looking at me. Wondering what I did wrong I look over at Valerie to see her grinning. Frowning I mouth 'What did I do?'

She shakes her head and mouths 'Tell you later.' I huff and go back to watching as the rest of the dragons complete the obstacle course, both sides getting quite muddy from the pits and some who are unfortunate enough to fall off the cross beams.

Two hours later and the final pair is crossing the finish line and returning to their lines. Everyone turns their attention to Sergeant Spark as he pulls up the lacrimas with the times.

"Alright dragons it's official males have sentry duty. Break for lunch and then females report back here for training." At his words I can see the females around me relax and an almost audible growl can be heard from the males on the other side of the field.

As we walk to the mess hall the females smile when they see me so I turn to Valerie. "Why was everyone looking at me after I completed the course?"

She looks at me in surprise. "Lucy, you beat the fastest time on the course and might I add the first female to do so." I look at her in confusion and she adds "A female has never been able to beat the fastest time on the course which was set by Sergeant Spark himself."

Then it clicks. "So that's why you're all happy? Because you don't have sentry duty for the next year?" She nods and says "We've had to do sentry duty for the last two hundred years, it's about time the males stayed up all night."

We sit at our table in the mess and start eating while the males file in and take their seats. After lunch is when the real training begins.

Back at the training grounds we're set up with a partner for sparring practice, myself being partnered with Valerie but while the others jump straight into trying to box their partner's heads off she stands there watching me.

"The reason why we haven't gotten to the fun part yet is because you don't have control over lightning yet, well I'm about to change that. One thing you should know about my training, though, is that I don't go easy." She goes from crossing her arms and smirking to standing in a fighting stance while lightning dances across her palms and fingers.

Sliding into my stance I wait for her to make the first move but don't expect it when she disappears only to reappear behind me and zap me. Yelping I jump away and her smirk grows into a grin.

"One if the advantages of a lightning dragon is that while in human form we can move so fast that we either turn into the element itself or become invisible to the naked eye."

While I'm taking in this bit of information she's moves again but before her lightning can touch me I dodge the hit and lash out with a kick that never lands.

Growing frustrated as she manages to land hit after hit but dodge all of mine I begin to feel a tingling in my palms and when I look down can see a bit of lightning jump out over my palms.

Valerie sees this and moves again taking advantage of my momentary distraction to try to land another hit but I surprise myself and her when I reach up and grab her fist with my hand. When she crumples to the ground I let go.

"Are you alright?" She nods and jumps back up. "Excellent catch but you may want to watch how much sting you put behind those volts."

When she sees my evident confusion she walks up shows me one of her palms while a small bit of lightning dance across it. "With lightning you're able to tone it down or ramp it up depending on whether you want to stun or incapacitate your opponent. Since you just gained the ability of the element you need to tone it down some."

I nod and try to tone down it down but when she swings again and I catch it she actually yelps. Shaking her fist to get rid of the pain she also shakes her head. "No that time you did the complete opposite, try taking a deep breath and calming down."

This time when she swings I catch her and she smiles. "Excellent now lets get to sparring, we only have until sundown to train today before we have to report to the mess hall for dinner."

Nodding I walk a few feet away while she does the same and not five seconds after she reaches her spot she ducks low to dodge my kick and reacts with an elbow that would've hit my gut if I didn't come up with my other foot which smacks her across the face.

Turning back around I catch her fist and shock her before swinging forward and landing a right hook. She stumbles back but recovers quickly and disappears. Turning around I narrowly dodge a face shot but catch her arm and swing it around until it's pinned behind her. She jumps up and over my head making me loosen my grip and grabs me by the back of my neck shocking me hard enough for me to sink to a knee.

"Surely the princess isn't all talk and no bite." Growling at her statement I roll and jump up behind her kicking her in her knees making her stumble forward.

As she stands she says "Why someone like the prince would go for a human like you I will never know. You are a weakling, you don't deserve to be princess of the dragon realm so why don't you run home to Earthland already?"

Not understanding where any of this is coming from but still getting pissed she's saying this shit I feel lightning start to crawl up my arms as I step forward. Fear crosses her face and she takes a step back so I take another step forward.

"You think I'm a weakling? I'll show you just how strong I really am." I go to attack but instead I'm tackled backwards. Looking to see who's holding me back I'm surprised to see Natsu scowling at me.

To say I'm confused is an understatement. "Natsu what are you doing here?" He gets up and pulls me up with him. "Luce do you really think I'm gonna let you kill someone for calling you weak?"

I snort and go to shrug out of his grip but he tightens it. "Lucy how many times have you told me anger isn't the best emotion to listen to when you need to keep a level head?"

Frowning I look back at him and he says "Look I've come to the conclusion that lightning dragons are just a bunch of dicks, so just focus on the training and not on what they have to say about you or anything else. Can you promise me that?"

I nod but he doesn't let go. "Lucy I want to hear you say it." Sighing I give in. "Fine I promise, there are you happy?"

He grins and lets go before jogging back to where the males are while I turn back to see Valerie and the other females looking on in confusion.

"Well are we gonna spar or what?" Valerie shakes off her shock first and walks back to her side while I do the same. A minute later and we're trading blows. Left and right, kick after kick until sundown when the clouded skies grow black and the lightning lacrimas on the edges of the field glow brighter.

During dinner that night the dragons go between watching me, Natsu, and Valerie. Both Valerie and I sporting some nice bruises and welts from our sparring.

After I finish eating I call up the lightning and flash it between my fingers tuning out everything else until someone sits down next to me. Looking over I'm surprised to see Natsu frowning at me so I tilt my head and look back at him while noticing a table of male dragons and the females I'm sitting with watching us.

"What's up?" He narrows his eyes and I can tell he's reading my emotions like an open book but I would do the same to him so I let him.

Finally a grin slides across his face. "Nice sparring today, how come you never go that far with me?"

My eyes flick up noticing his buzz cut again and a thought crosses my mind. "How about this, trade you a question for a question."

He nods and I continue. "You know if Gray sees you with a buzz cut he's gonna grill you through and through right?" He growls and jabs his thumbs in the direction of the table of males watching us.

"Those assholes decided it would be funny to prank me while I slept, actually I was hoping that you could get Cancer to help me out." I shake my head and he pouts.

"My keys are locked in my chest back in the barracks." He nods.

"Now back to my earlier question. Why the hell don't you go that far when we're sparring?" I shrug and he pouts again.

"I'm serious Natsu I went further today than I normally like to go."

"Hey Natsu lets go we start sentry duty in ten minutes." He looks back at me before standing and running after his squad as they exit the door.

After the males leave the females return to eating and chatting and when Valerie finishes her plate she jumps up and sits next to me staying quiet until I look at her.

"Lucy, please accept my apology for what I said earlier."

"Why did you say those things anyway?"

"It's how we unlock the lightning element. Once a dragon show capability of wielding the element it's my job as a trainer to draw the element out most often by pissing the dragon off, though sometimes we have to go a different route when anger fails."

"Ok first I accept your apology, second what are we doing tomorrow?"

She smiles and says "Well from what Sargeant Spark told us, you and the prince learn the spells very quickly, so if that's true we'll only need a few days to get your amperage under control and then we can start on the spells. Once you learn those we'll be able to move into sparring and in a week's time after that you'll face off against Sergeant Spark to see if you've mastered lightning."

We talk for a few more minutes before heading back to the barracks but while everyone else is climbing into their bunks for lights out I reach underneath mine and pull out the chest that Igneel gave me.

Just as I'm about to mutter the chant to unlock it Valerie's head pops out over the edge of her bunk which is right over mine.

"Lucy, what are you doing? Lights out is Lights out."

"I know Valerie but I have to check in with my spirits or else they'll pop in without my consent." Reaching out I lay my hand on the chest and mutter the chant. When the faint click is heard I smile and lift the lid but when I go to grab the keys Valerie snatches them first.

"Oh my you're quite a collector of keys. Ten gold and five silver is nothing to sneeze at."

I pull my hand down my face. "Valerie give me back my keys please, I really don't need a pesky lion interrupting my training." An evil grin spreads across her face and just as I'm about to grab my keys back she snatches them away.

"Who's the lion?" I try to snatch the keys again but she holds them just out of reach. "His name is Loke and he's a playboy, now give them back."

She taps her chin for about a minute before shaking her head. "No way have fun without your keys for the next week."

"Valerie you don't understand, they're not just my spirits they're my friends and if I don't check in with them they won't leave me alone now give them back."

She shakes her head and the keys disappear in her grasp. I stop jumping and stare at where my keys just were. "No, no Valerie you have to give them back, Aquarius is gonna kill me."

Again she shakes her head and jumps back onto her bunk promptly falling asleep. Grumbling I climb onto my bunk and roll over fearing the wrath of my spirits.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Yawning for the millionth time tonight I stretch and listen as the other dragons grumble about sentry duty while my partner, Kazuo, look like he's ready to run around the entire base.

"Prince why did you tackle the princess yesterday, that would've been one good fight if you hadn't of stepped in." I groan and rub my hand over my face.

"Kazuo for the last time call me Natsu as for why I stopped Lucy, you don't know her like I do and the way she was acting it wasn't gonna be a fight, it was gonna be a one way slaughter."

He looks skeptical and my theory is proven correct when he says "Not possible, females are weaker than males it was only a fluke that she won in the obstacle course."

I chuckle and turn my head to look out across the grounds when I hear a noise. "Kazuo, just you wait for the sparring she'll change your views real fast. Actually she's stronger than I am."

He snorts and we spend the rest of our shift discussing different spells we know.

The next day we're on the training grounds when a scent crosses my nose and a second later I hear Luce yelp. Turning around my jaw drops seeing Loke and Virgo standing in between Lucy and her sparring partner.

Not taking my eyes off of the female's side of the training grounds I dodge a right hook while watching as Loke and Virgo back down before turning to Lucy then disappearing to the spirit realm.

When she returns to sparring I turn to see Takashi standing there with his arms crossed scowling at me. "Natsu pay attention."

I grumble and dodge his kick before popping up and landing a solid gut punch which makes him stumble backwards.

When he lunges forward I quickly charge my hands and when I hit him he goes flying across the training grounds landing in a crater.

Everyone on the grounds stop what they're doing to watch him fly and then turn towards me. Shrugging I run over to help him up before saying "Sorry Takashi, didn't mean to do that."

He wave his hand and we walk back to where we were sparring. "It's fine you just need to tone down the wattage you use." I nod and slide back into fighting form waiting for him to make the first move.

Three hours later and we're filing into the mess hall for lunch. Instead of joining the rest of the males at their table I walk over and sit next to Luce.

As I sit down she looks up from her plate and smiles. "Hey Luce why did Loke and Virgo appear during practice today?" She scowls and points at a dragon with short dirty blond hair that's sitting across from us.

"Natsu meet Valerie, she took my keys before I could check in with them last night. Virgo and Loke were worried and when they sensed I was fighting they jumped in to protect me."

I look up at the dragon and she gives a sheepish smile. "Hello Prince it's nice to finally meet you."

Not sure what to say I just grin and turn back to Luce. "So when do you start learning the spells? Takashi said he'll start teaching me in a couple of days."

"Actually Lucy is supposed to start learning the spells at about the same time." I nod and we continue talking until the end of lunch where we split and I follow the male for sentry duty while the females return to the training grounds.

 **~ Two weeks later ~ Lucy P.O.V.**

Backflipping I avoid a "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist" and respond with "Lightning Dragon's Roar." The attack hits my opponent head on and knocks him out.

Sergeant Spark steps into the boundary of the sparring area and raises his hand. "Boruto is out, Lucy advances to the finals."

Catching my breath I look to see the males staring at me in awe while the females all wear grins of triumph. Grinning I walk back to my spot in file as Natsu and Ame step within the boundary.

Falling in behind Valerie I hear her mutter "Excellent work Lucy, almost there." I nod and we watch as Natsu outstrips Ame in their match eventually knocking out the female dragon and proceeding onto the next round.

After Natsu and Ame return to their files Sergeant Spark steps into the middle of the sparring area.

"Listen up, Natsu and Lucy have made it to the final round. Who they will go up against will remain classified until the time of the match, as for now you are dismissed."

When we get back to the barracks the females all break out into cheers while I sit on my bunk and and watch. "That was amazing fighting today Lucy."

Looking up I can see Valerie leaning off her bunk so that her head is upside down. "Thanks Valerie I couldn't have done it without your help."

Her head disappears only for the rest of her to reappear and sit on my bunk. "So do you have any idea on how you're gonna handle the opponent tomorrow?"

I shake my head. "It's just like when we face any other enemy, we don't know what we're gonna do until we've had time to observe the opponent."

"Actually I think I already know who our opponent is." Jumping at the sound of his voice I turn to see Natsu climbing out of the shadow from underneath a bunk bed.

"Natsu what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with the males?" He shrugs and sits on the floor, leaning against a bed while ignoring the stares and glares from the other females.

"The males aren't doing anything fun besides playing poker, plus I wanted to see you." Quickly covering the blush that exploded across my face I look over to see Valerie staring at Natsu intently.

Finally she says what's on her mind "Natsu you said you may have an idea who the opponent is. How do you know?"

He grins and says "I overheard Sergeant Spark telling an advisor to summon you and Takashi to his office so he could tell you that you'll be joining in the match."

To say that the lightning dragon looks dumbstruck is an understatement so I wave my hand in front of her face to draw her attention.

"Valerie come back to us." Finally she shakes her head snapping her mind back to here. "Sorry Lucy it's just that it's an honor to be in a competition match as a competitor. Anyway do you know if anyone else will be in the match?"

He looks at the ceiling of the barrack and taps his chin. "I think Sergeant Spark is gonna be in it to but I can't say for sure."

I nod and we look up when the doors slide open to reveal a messenger. The dragon looks around and when he spots us he walks over and hands Valerie a paper before turning on his heel and exiting the barracks again.

Turning back around I'm surprised to find Natsu gone until I feel someone tap my head and I look up to see him sitting on Valerie's bunk grinning.

"Sorry Luce didn't want him to see me, I've already gotten into enough trouble for disobeying the curfew."

I shake my head and look at Valerie who is reading the paper. "What is it Valerie?" She folds the paper and looks at us grinning.

"Natsu you heard correct, Takashi and I are to meet Sergeant Spark in his office tomorrow morning to discuss details for the match tomorrow."

Remembering what Valerie had said the first day we got here I say "Valerie do you think this match is Sergeant Spark's way of testing to see if we've learned lightning?"

"It could, I mean from what you two showed today, it very well could be his way of testing you. Though don't you have another week of studying with us?"

Natsu bends down over the bed and looks at me then at Valerie. "Actually we master the spells so quickly that we're like a month ahead of schedule."

I look at him in surprise and he moves his shoulders in what I assume to be a shrug. "Luce I can do a little math, and by the way I figure we're about a month ahead."

Nodding I look back at Valerie to see her looking at something in her hands and looking closer I scowl. "Valerie how the hell did you get into my chest?"

She grins and holds up my keys. "Dragon hearing Lucy comes in handy more often than you think." I sigh and hold out my hand, curling my fingers around the keys when she hands them over.

"Relax Luce, she won't hurt them. I mean didn't she prove that when she kept them for the first week?" I growl and glare at my boyfriend from where he still hangs off the bed.

"I know, but they are still my keys. I can't help but be worried about them, besides I don't want Aquarius getting pissed at me for letting someone else mess with her key."

Valerie looks at me in confusion and Natsu says "She's a mean scaly lady that goes off on Luce anytime she calls her." The dragon nods and looks out the windows when the lacrima that are lighting up our barrack start to dim.

"Natsu it's time for you to go, I calling lights out." He pouts and looks at me and I shrug. "I'm sorry Natsu but she's the barrack leader when she calls lights out it's lights out."

He sighs and melts into shadow form but not before saying "See you at the mess hall Luce."

After he leaves I roll over and put my keys back in the chest just as the light completely fades.

The next day we're in the mess hall when Natsu sits down next to me with his plate. He's done this since a couple days after we got here preferring to sit with me instead of the 'asshats' at the male's table as he likes to call him.

He looks up and down the table before saying "Hey Luce where's Valerie?"

"Don't you remember she had that meeting with Sergeant Spark this morning?" His mouth forms an 'o' shape and he nods.

After he finishes his plate he says "Takashi's at the meeting too."

"Isn't he your barrack leader?" He nods and "He's also the ass that gave me this haircut." I giggle and he scowls.

"It's not funny Luce, if Metalhead or Ice prick were to see me like this they would never let me live it down."

I roll my eyes and giggle when he pouts. "Alright tell you what, when we leave I'll have Cancer fix it for you, that sound good?"

He grins and hugs me before standing and leaving with the males for the training grounds. Shaking my head I stand and follow the females to the training grounds wondering what exactly is in store for today's match.

When we get there we fall into file while Sergeant Spark, Valerie, and a male dragon that I assume is Takashi stand in the middle of the sparring ring with poker faces.

While everyone is filing onto the training grounds I catch Natsu's eye and he gives me a small grin as if saying 'Relax we got this.' Frowning I turn my gaze to Sergeant Spark as he steps forward hands still clasped behind him.

"Dragons today is the final round of the competition, but this is also something more. Today we will find out if the prince and princess have mastered our element and if they're ready to move on. In order to prove this they must defeat us in a three on two battle. Now Prince, Princess step forward so we may begin."

Stepping out of line I walk until I'm standing in the boundary of the sparring area with Natsu copying my movements. Spark, Valerie, and Takashi split up with the former backing up while the latter two move to our sides.

Looking at Natsu I relax seeing his grin and we wait for the opposition to make the first move. Valerie moves first using her speed to get in close trying to stun me but I dodge it and counter yelling "Lightning Dragon's Raging Bolt."

The attack knocks her back into Natsu who hits her using "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist."

Ducking I dodge a roar from Takashi and use "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd" The attack hits him head on driving him back almost to the boundary line.

Turning back around I grab Valerie by her collar as she comes flying by and throw her back at Natsu using "Lightning Dragon's paralyzing claw."

When my attack hits her, she freezes unable to move her limbs as a result of the paralyzing effect of the spell and Natsu pouts. "Seriously Luce? I could've done that."

I jump back dodging an iron fist from Takashi and say "Natsu we still have to take out Sergeant Spark remember?"

He growls and jumps forward throwing Takashi into the air. I jump and he throws me up and I flip kicking the dragon back to the ground.

"Fine but you owe me." After I land I point with my thumb at where the male is climbing out of the crater and Natsu takes the hint.

Grinning he cracks his knuckles and moves forward yelling "Lightning Dragon's Thunder Claw." The attack hits the dragon before he regains his senses and he slides across the ground for a distance.

Moving forward I almost laugh when the dragon gets back up with a serious look on his face. He doesn't say anything but runs at me yelling "Lightning Dragon's Lightning Charge"

Slowly so as to not to draw attention I move around until Natsu is behind me and jump out of the way in enough time for Natsu to eat the attack. As Takashi gets close Natsu swings with "Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist." and just like that day two weeks ago Takashi goes flying across the field.

When we hear a chuckle we turn to see Spark looking at us with an amused expression. "I have to hand it to you Prince, you really have gotten strong. Princess on the other hand you still need some practice."

A vein throbs on my forehead and when Natsu looks at me he takes a step back and grinning he says "Spark you shouldn't have said that."

Spark turns his eyes off of me to look at Natsu in confusion and I use his lapse in concentration to my advantage. Ramping up the lightning in my hands until it licks my shoulders I flash behind him and kick him across the field.

Before he even has the chance to stand I'm standing in front of him on the downswing with "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd."

He rolls dodging the attack and jumps up scowling. Moving forward he hits me with a claw attack and as I'm standing Natsu hits him with a claw attack of his own.

Spark gets up from where he landed but instead of standing he puts his hands flat against the ground and lightning starts to spread out from his spread fingers.

Grinning he says "Lightning Dragon's Paralyzing Pillars." As we stand there pillars of lightning sprout from the ground and when one skims my arm and it goes numb it clicks what this spell is.

Looking back I see Natsu watching. "Natsu don't let the pillars touch you." Confusion crosses his face but he nods anyway and we weave our way through the pillars towards Spark.

Looking ahead I can see the dragon standing up but what catches my attention is how he avoids the pillars. _'So the pillars affect him as well.'_ Looking around a plan hatches at the observation and I move quicker.

Speeding up I appear behind the dragon and kick him into one of the pillars. When he hits the pillar it disappears with the others and he falls to the ground paralyzed.

I walk forward until I'm standing in front of him and speak softly. "Am I weak now Spark? Have I not mastered your element?"

When a hand lands on my shoulder I look to see Valerie looking at me. "Easy Lucy you've proven your point, you both have. Congratulations on mastering lightning."

"Yes indeed, forgive me Princess for underestimating you." I turn back to see Takashi helping Spark stand while his limbs still drag from the lingering effects of the paralysis.

I give in and smile. "All is forgiven Spark." He gives a small smile himself and straightens out announcing to the rest. "Natsu and Lucy win the competition and have mastered our element, tonight we celebrate."

 **~Later that night~ Normal P.O.V.**

Everyone on base is gathered in the mess hall celebrating Natsu and Lucy's success at mastering lightning magic but the two mages are nowhere to be seen instead we see them sitting on top of Lucy's barrack.

She leans on his shoulder with a sigh while he looks out over the base, but at the sound of her sigh he turns his gaze to look at her.

"What's the matter Luce? Arm still bothering you?" She shakes her head and he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm just glad we're done with lightning, I miss the guild." Natsu kisses her forehead and says "I do to, but just think we only have two dragons left before we can return."

She sighs but then a small smile appears. "I know Natsu, but you what I enjoy right now?" He looks at her with an eyebrow raised and she says "I enjoy it just being the two of us."

He laughs quietly. "I know what you mean these past two weeks have been annoying, the only time we can see each other without risking consequences being mealtime is annoying."

"Speaking of consequences what did Spark have you do when he found you outside after lights out last week?"

Natsu groans and rubs a hand over his face. "He had me pulling double shifts on sentry duty." She giggles and they sit there in silence.

When a light appears behind the couple they turn to see Valerie walking up with a smirk glued to her face. "I was wondering where you two were. Why aren't you at the mess hall celebrating?"

Natsu shrugs and Lucy grimaces. "Let them celebrate it's quieter up here." Valerie let's out a small laugh at Lucy's statement and sits next to them.

"So what are your plans after you leave us?" Natsu leans back with his arms under his head while Lucy says "We have to go train with the ice dragon next, so most likely we'll be leaving tomorrow to keep moving."

Valerie frowns and her eyebrows furrow. "But wait I thought you said you were a month ahead of schedule, why leave so soon?"

From where Natsu is lying he says "Because we have a guild to get back to. Time may move much slower here then there but over there we've been gone for about a week so far. And a week.."

Lucy picks up the statement saying "And a week is too long without them knowing where we are. The guild isn't just the guild they're also our nakama, our family."

The lightning dragon nods and stands. "Well then I'll leave you two alone then, but if you feel like it come down and join in." And almost as quickly as she came she leaves flashing down in her lightning form.

Lucy yawns and Natsu sits up looking at Lucy. "Come on weirdo it's getting late we should probably get to bed since we'll be leaving early tomorrow."

They stand and make their way back down to the ground sharing a kiss before separating for their barracks.

* * *

 **Don't have much to say this time besides the usual Fave, Follow, and Review for more.**

 **"Wait Grizzly."**

 **"KYA! Natsu what are you doing here?"**

 **"Grizz you forgot to say thanks for the reviews already left."**

 ***Rubs hand over face* "Thank you for reminding me Natsu, now don't you think you should be back in your bunk in Lightning Territory?"**

 **"Yea, yea I'm going. See all you readers next chapter."**

 **Now that he's gone thank you all for who left their reviews so far and I can't wait to see the newest for this chapter. Now if you'll excuse me I have a portal to go find.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	11. Glacier

**Hey guys I have good news I'M NOT DEAD. Of course if you had read that recent one shot I posted you would already know this fact but any way here for you now I give you Chapter 11.**

 **BTW my special thanks goes out to _Blue197_ again she took the initiative and helped me write this chapter as well as helping me clear my head of some other scenes that were preventing me from writing this one.**

* * *

Chapter 11

Glacier

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I'm on the runway with Spark and Natsu waiting for the ice dragon to show up when I'm tackled in a hug from behind and turning around I'm shocked to see the dragons from barrack 18 standing there while Valerie is still holding me.

"Valerie, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at training?" Valerie pulls back at my question and puts her hands on her hips.

"Lucy do you really think we're gonna let one of our own go without saying goodbye first?" Smiling I hug her back.

"I'm gonna miss you too." Pulling away again she smiles softly. "You'll never believe what happened last night after I left you two"

I can't help the multitude of possibilities that run through my head as I say "What? What happened?" She grins and leans in close whispering "Takashi asked me out last night."

I gasp "Really? That's amazing Valerie." She smiles but it turns to a frown as she looks past me and only then do I notice the drop in temperature.

Turning around I follow her gaze to see an almost blinding white dragon about five minutes out and closing in fast.

Sighing I turn around and hug Valerie again. "It was nice meeting you Valerie, I'm gonna miss you." she hugs me back before letting go and turning with the others in tow heads towards the training grounds.

When the air temperature drops another ten degrees I walk over to Natsu relishing in the warmth that only he can give off while the dragon quietly glides over the base wall.

As the dragon lands ice grows from her paws as she walks leaving a trail on the runway and as she gets closer I can see snowflakes that blow out with every breath she takes.

Then she stops in front of us and folds one snow white leg under as she bows. "Hello Prince, Princess it is my pleasure to be your next teacher. I am the ice dragon Glacier."

I smile as she stands straight and say "Hello Glacier, we don't need to go by formalities please call us by our names."

She nods and turns her head towards Spark who raises an eyebrow. "They're all yours Glacier."

"Then let us be gone, you will need time to adjust to my den." We climb up her extended limb and as she takes off again I can't help the awe that over takes me at her appearance.

Her head has a crown of ice for horns while several icicles hang off her chin, she doesn't have whiskers but her eyes are of a blue so light they're almost white.

Her scales are teardrop shaped and go from clear at the edge to a deep blue where they disappear being overlapped by another layer of scales.

Instead of having wings with membranes like the other dragons her wings are like pieces of ice that have stretched and overlapped to form the general scallop shape while being almost transparent except for where the wing meets her shoulder, there the skin turns to miniature white scales.

Her tail follows the same rule with her scales but instead of horns at the tip she has two light blue feathers. Even though the air around Glacier is cold as we sit on her back she actually feels warm.

Standing up I walk forward and grab on to Glacier's ice crown watching as she flies out of Lightning Territory and into the Windy Plains. When Natsu wraps his arms around I lean back into his chest enjoying the quiet that reigns as we fly.

Well that is until a sky dragon descends from the clouds. Natsu grins and I wave as Grandeeney waves a paw in return before falling back and descending.

As we watch her descend he says "What do you think that was about?" I shrug and turn back to looking over the ice.

"Ever think she saying hi Natsu?" I pause at the dragon's words and she continues. "Because you've mastered her element she can tell whenever you are in proximity to her, it is the same with the other elements as well."

After I think it over for a minute I giggle and I can feel him frown behind me. "What's so funny Luce?"

"Just the fact that our training is almost over, we'll soon be elemental dragon slayers capable of wielding any element in the dragon realm and Earthland."

He comes around until his arm is wrapped around my shoulders and he's holding onto Glacier's horns as well. "I still don't see what's so funny about it. We have only have to train with Celeste after we finish ice and then we have to worry about hiding our power from the guild until it comes time to open the portals."

I frown and look up at him. "Natsu what are you so worried about? So what if we only have ice and celestial left? We can handle anything that's thrown at us. We're Fairy Tail mages, you said so yourself we overcome the impossible. As for when we get home we can cross that bridge when we get to it but I think they'll back us 100%."

He grins and kisses me before leaning his forehead against mine. "Have I ever told you I love you?" I smile and give him another kiss. "You could say it more often you know."

Laughing he picks me and spins me around, but sets me down when Glacier says "Alright you two why don't you come see what will be your home for the next month."

Walking forward I'm shocked to find that in the time we were talking we had crossed the boundary between the Windy Plains and Ice Territory.

Looking up the sky is covered with white clouds and when I look down all I see is white except for the splash of color that comes from the evergreens that soar high in the sky at least a hundred foot or more.

Ahead sits a mountain whose summit disappears in the clouds and as we get closer I can see multiple caves on its surface, each a splash of black compared to the whiteness that covers everything below.

When we're close enough Glacier starts descending in slow circles landing on a frozen lake and just like on the runway back in Lightning Territory each step she takes results in ice appearing beneath her feet, a light blue that almost blends in the snow. Almost.

Looking around I can see several white shapes glimmer on edges on the mountain, the only telltale sign they're dragons the slight movements from their tails as they either sleep or watch us.

Turning my gaze down my jaw drops at the sight of the frozen waterfall that sits edging two caves quite a ways up the mountain side.

All over the white surface blue tracks can be seen and as I slide down her leg to stand next to Natsu I can make out several patches that are no bigger than Natsu's feet.

At the sound of footsteps behind me I turn to see a woman with pale almost white skin with white hair that has light blue tips, and her eyes are a startling white with blue edges.

Her clothes on the other hand look more like they are for warmer weather. What with white short shorts and a light blue tank top that only reaches her navel. The one thing that really catches my attention though is that she's standing up to her knees in snow and has no shoes on.

Her voice when in human form is soft to where I would imagine anyone but dragons and dragon slayers would have to be right next to her to hear her.

Another thing that is impossible to miss is that be it in her human form or her true form she is silent as she moves as in where our feet crunch under the snow not a sound is heard from her and then it makes sense.

As far as my hearing can stretch I can't hear anything but mine and Natsu's breathing. Not the flutter of the snow owl's wings that sit in the tree or the white deer that are walking through the nearby bush everything is quiet.

A very weird feeling to say the least when you're used to being yelled at everyday and the general noise that comes from normal everyday life.

"Welcome to my home Lucy, Natsu. Where we are standing now is where we'll be training everyday, and if you'll follow me I'll lead you to your rooms." She walks past us and we follow her into a cave in the mountain side and down a hall where she stops in front of the doors with our symbols.

"Lunch is in ten minutes and after that we'll start training." We nod and she disappears back down the hall towards the cave entrance.

"Hey Luce did you notice it to?" I look at Natsu who's leaning against his door and he points to where Glacier disappeared down the hall.

"What the fact that she makes almost no noise or the fact that she wasn't wearing shoes even though she was knee deep in snow?"

"The first one." I nod and he disappears inside his room while I walk into mine to change and put my keys in the chest at the foot of my bed.

As I go to close the lid of the chest Loke's key glows and then he appears standing in front of my bed in his usual black suit with green shades.

"Hello Princess it's been a while." Smiling I jump up and hug him. "That it has Loke but what are you doing here now?"

He pulls away and looks around my room. "I popped in to see where you're at with your training, but it would appear you've already moved onto another dragon."

"Yea just got here a few minutes ago, she has to get ready because lunch is in five." Loke whips around so fast that I can feel a breeze and I just smile as Natsu leans on the door frame with a grin on his face.

"N-natsu what are you doing here?" I almost laugh as he tries to hide the stutter in his voice. Natsu raises an eyebrow and frowns. "Why wouldn't I be? One she's my girlfriend. Two I'm the prince in this prophecy so I have to do the training as well. Or have you forgotten?"

Loke gulps and shakes his head. "I just didn't think... wait did you say girlfriend?" Natsu nods and Loke's jaw drops. "For how long?"

"Since the day before we left the capitol so a little under eight months." He looks at me in surprise and I nod.

"Wow I didn't realize so much has happened in the past few months, if it's ok with you Princess I would like to let Gramps know when you may be returning to the guild." Natsu looks at him in confusion and I put the pieces together.

"Loke are you able to pop into the guild?" This time it's the spirit turn to look confused.

"Princess I thought you knew, because you hold such a strong connection to the guild as well as the fact that I bare the mark I'm able to open my gate in Earthland."

Deciding to worry about the lack of communication later I nod and he disappears back to the spirit realm while Natsu walks in. "Luce are you ok?"

Sighing I give him a smile and walk out down the hall with him following not far behind. Sitting down at the table I'm surprised to find a roast rabbit laid on both our plates with peas and mashed potatoes while the rabbit itself is stuffed with asparagus.

After eating lunch in silence we move outside where Glacier has us take our meditative positions.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Ever so softly as a snowflake flying through the air Glacier speaks. "Feel the ice that moves and thrives around you, silent and steady. Raise it, help it grow."

Slowly the ice surrounding the slayers begin to grow until it encompasses their knees but for Natsu it stops there at a steady level. Cool, calm and collected.

The ice around Lucy, however, doesn't stop but continues to grow and when Glacier realizes what's happening she says "Lucy, calm down you can't let the ice take over."

Before she finishes her statement Lucy disappears in the ice and soon flashes of color can be seen flying beneath the ice.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

At Glacier's words and the fact that I can feel Luce losing control over her emotions I break my meditation and jump up when I see Luce encased in ice while her emotions run wild beneath the surface.

Igniting my hands I get to work melting the ice but just as I seem to be making progress the ice races to cover the hole and thicken the shell.

I want to use a spell but I'm afraid to hurt her that is until Glacier comes up with a plan. "Natsu can you get her emotions under control?" I nod and she takes up a stance in front on the other side of the ice from me. "I'll take care of pulling away the ice, you focus on getting her to calm down."

Nodding I sit down and placing my hands on the ice, close my eyes. Taking deep breaths I slide into the chaos training and I'm able to see the emotions whirling around clearly.

Slowly I work my way through being careful not to let myself be drawn in as I rein in her emotions once I rein in her fear which seems to be the biggest factor I feel her take over. Together we finish pushing each emotion down and then I pull away and open my eyes to see Glacier slowly pulling the ice away.

Standing up I begin radiating heat which helps the ice disappear faster until I'm able to grab Luce. "Luce, Lucy can you hear me?"

Slowly her eyes flutter open and she looks at me confusion. Heaving a sigh of relief I help her stand up but she still clings to me like a lifeline. Looking up I glare at the ice dragon. "Glacier what the hell was that?"

Glacier looks down at Luce then back at me and frowns. "I've only heard of this before, I've never seen one for myself."

I can feel myself heating up with anger at her evasiveness. "Glacier, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's called an emotional breakdown, like I said I've heard of it but I've never seen one for myself until now. It happens rarely when learning ice magic, the ice forces one to see their true colors and sometimes their psyche can't handle it so they breakdown into their emotions as a way to handle it."

Forcing myself to calm down so that I don't freak Luce out I say "So what does that mean for training?"

She shakes her head. "I'm not sure I have to talk to the elder dragons they've all handled a breakdown at one point or another while they trained the new generations, for now though take Lucy to the cave and I'll return with answers by tomorrow morning."

Taking Lucy's hand I guide her back into the cave while Glacier transforms and takes off.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

While Natsu and Lucy disappear into the cave Glacier transforms and takes off spiraling up the mountain past multiple caves and dragons who raise their heads in greeting before returning to their business.

Glacier steadily rises higher and higher until she flies up past the clouds and lands in front of a cave covered in ice. The opening itself has columns of ice that hold up a roof.

Walking forward she enters the cave and stops before five dragons that dwarf her in size. She bows in greeting and the largest ice dragon nods his head in acknowledgement.

"Glacier what brings you up here? Shouldn't you be training the Prince and Princess?"

Glacier stands straight and frowns. "That I am Elder but while I was starting their training the princess went into an emotional breakdown."

The elder tenses and the others carry worry in their icey eyes. Finally a female on the end whose horns have worn down to almost nothing says "What would happen if we went about with the process as we typically do?"

A male on the other side with scars all along his snout shakes his head. "We can't do that in this situation, Snow, because she is an elemental if we were to block her emotions she would lose contact with the other elements."

Snow scowls. "Then what do you suggest we do Flake?" Flake opens his mouth to retort but a female sitting next to Elder slams her paw down.

"Snow, Flake now is not the time to argue we must come up with a solution for this situation. We cannot block the princess's emotions as she would lose contact to the other elements that much is clear. Now Glacier how bad was the breakdown?"

Glacier sits on her haunches before replying. "The prince had to help her rein them in before I could break through the ice to free her."

The female nods and turns to a male that sits next Snow. "Angel do you have any ideas?" He hums for a few minutes before he frowns.

"I would have to observe a training session before I can know for sure, Samui, but I can think of a few possible solutions off the top of my head." Samui nods but the elders turn their attention back to Glacier when she clears her throat.

"Elders I should probably warn you that the prince is extremely protective of the princess and he may not go along with test being run."

Samui hums as she takes this in before saying "Very well, I do believe I know how I can get around that. Snow, Angel come along it's time we meet the prince and the princess."

Said dragons stand and stretch before making their way to the entrance with Glacier but as Samui steps forward Elder says "Be careful Samui, remember fire dragons are hot headed and easy to go off."

Samui nods and follows the others out of the cave. Glacier jumps off the ledge first extending her wings to glide down with Snow not a step behind. Then Angel jumps and as Samui catches up with them Snow says "It has been a while since I've been to the bottom of the mountain."

Landing on the lake the four dragons transform to human form and enter Glacier's den to see Natsu talking to Loke while Lucy is nowhere to be seen.

Walking forward the elders are surprised to see Loke and Angel says "Leo what are you doing here?"

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

After Luce goes to bed I walk back into the main cavern to try and meditate some to hear the guild when Loke pops in again.

"Natsu what happened to Lucy?" I frown and stand up.

"Glacier said that she went through something like an emotional breakdown, but I'm not quite sure what it has to do with learning ice magic."

Frowning he looks around the cavern. "Where is she anyway?" I throw a thumb over my shoulder pointing towards the hall with our rooms and he nods.

"Loke how did you know something was up?"

"It's part of our contract, all spirits that are contracted to a mage can get a general read of their emotions."

I nod but before I can reply we hear "Leo what are you doing here?" Looking over I see Glacier, along with a woman with white hair in a floor length ice blue gown, another woman with striking blue hair in a dress that matches the first, and a man with chocolate colored skin, no hair on his head or face and he's wearing a white suit.

All have the ice blue almost white eyes that signify they're ice dragons. My attention is snapped back when Loke says "Angel what are you doing here?"

The male snorts. "Answer my question first. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be dead already?"

I growl at the way the male is talking to Loke but the spirit holds his hand out stopping me from moving and with his other pushes his glasses up while he smirks.

"To answer your questions my summoner is sleeping in the other room, now Natsu let me introduce to some old frenemies."

He gestures to the male before saying "Natsu this is Angel, an ice dragon I used to be friends with before I was banned to Earthland, the female with the snow white hair is Snow and the one with the blue hair is an elder by the name of Samui."

Each dragon bows their head in turn but Angel sneers at Loke. "You still didn't answer my question why aren't you dead yet?"

"Because I saved him." Loke and I turn at the voice and I move forward to wrap Luce in a hug. "Luce I thought you were sleeping."

She pulls away and shakes her head "Couldn't sleep." Then she walks forward with her arms crossed until she's standing next to Loke.

"As for your answer I saved him and as part of his contract he protects me with his life. Loke is not only a spirit, or the leader of the zodiac, he is nakama and part of our guild Fairy Tail so I would be careful about how you talk about him."

The look on Angel's face is so funny that I can't hide the smirk on my face though I do swallow the laughter. Loke manages to get over his laughter and turns to Luce.

"How are you feeling princess?" Luce sighs and I walk to her side. "Hey Loke why don't you go back and we'll talk later." He nods and goes back to the spirit realm.

We turn back to the dragons as the female with the blue hair steps forward and bows. "Prince, Princess I am Samui one of the elder ice dragons. It is my pleasure to meet you."

Lucy smiles and extends her hand which Samui shakes before getting to the point. "We heard what happened during training today and would be honored if you would let us observe your training over the next few days."

I frown and look down at Luce to see what she thinks but she has a fake smile and says "Please it's your territory you can watch as much as you want."

Narrowing my eyes I'm able to read a bit of her emotions and I'm not liking what I'm seeing, but I decide to bring it up later when it's just us.

Looking up I notice the female behind Samui staring at me. Curious as to why she's staring at me I say "Samui who is that behind you?"

The elder turns around and pulls the female forward. "This is Snow, she's another of the elders as well as Angel here though I have a feeling he got off on the wrong foot with you."

Snow steps forward and extends her hand and I shake it while Luce shakes Angel's.

"Elders if I might say training starts early and it is late." We look at Glacier as she says this and Samui nods. "Very well we'll see you tomorrow."

We nod and walk back to our rooms while they walk outside. Shutting Lucy's door behind me I finally crack. "Lucy what the hell is going on with you?"

She sits on the bed and looks at her hands while the smell of tears fill the air. "I-I don't know Natsu, I'm scared, my emotions have never been out of control like this before. Even at the guild I had complete control over them."

Sighing I sit down next to her and wrap my arms around her, after a little while of her crying she calms down and eventually nods off so I lay her down and crawl in next to her not letting her go.

The next day we're back on the frozen lake and meditating while the elders take up locations on ledges to watch us from a distance.

Taking a deep breath I delve into the meditation quickly coming across the strings that control the ice and before I know it the ice around me is growing and forming around me.

Even though I'm working on my meditation part of me is still watching Luce even as her emotions start to cut loose, but this time she takes control before they get too far away.

Finally after meditating for another few hours we move into the physical training. She starts with the fighting stance and before long ice is climbing up our arms as we learn the first of the attack spells.

"The first spell is called 'Ice Dragon's Glacial Fist' Now this is similar to the iron fist of the other elements but the difference is that ice covers your fist creating a sort of mace."

 **Normal P.O.V.**

While Natsu and Lucy practice the first spells a conversation is happening between the elders as they watch from the mountain side.

As Samui and Snow chat, Angel observes the training session with a critical eye. The gears turning as he contemplates the dilemma with the princess, though he's shocked out of his revery when he hears "And Angel said…"

"What did Angel say?" The females smirk and Snow says "It's about time you're paying attention, where were you?"

He snorts and points his snout towards the training session. "I was going over plans to help the princess."

They follow his gaze and watch as Lucy moves to attack an ice target. "Any ideas Angel?" The males shakes his head and turns back towards the females.

"A few but nothing solid, I need to see how they react without the other." Samui hums before "So here's what we'll do. Snow and I will take the prince to the other side of the mountain for the rest of the day, Angel you stay here."

After Angel nods Samui and Snow stand and glide down to the training field. When they land Natsu finishes the spell he was casting and turn to the elders as Glacier speaks to them.

Glacier turns back and looks at Natsu. "Natsu you are to go with the elders for training today while Lucy stays here."

Natsu frowns and looks at Lucy before seeming to make up his mind and walking towards the elder ice dragons. He quickly climbs on Samui's back and the elders take off flying around the mountain.

After they take off Glacier turns back to Lucy. "Now then back to work, resume with 'Ice Dragon's Ice spires'" Lucy nods and slides back into her stance while sharp ice blue eyes follow her every movement.

Hours later as the sun is setting Samui and Snow land back on the ice to let Natsu off before taking flight again and landing on the edge where Angel snoozes after observing Lucy all day.

When Snow touches down she laughs softly and shakes her head. "I hope he did more observing than sleeping today."

Angel raises his head and yawns, his paws stretching out to leave deep scratches in the stone in front of him. "Of course I did Snow, but that sun felt so good I figured I'd get a nap while I wait for you three to get back."

"Snow, Angel down to business. What did you learn today?" Both dragons turn their attention to Samui as she lays down with a scowl stretched on her snout.

Angel nods and Snow lays down as well to listen to his report. "So my theory is correct, the prince acts as a grounding wire for the princess. After you left with the prince, the princess was unable to get much further with casting the spells."

"I sense a however coming up." Angel turns to Snow and nods. "However there is good news."

"Well spill Angel what is it?" Angel turns back to Samui and a smirk crawls across his features. "This problem with her emotions will sort themselves eventually because I do believe they are forming a soul bond."

Samui frowns. "Are you sure about this Angel?"

"Yes Samui I'm sure, though they have not completed the mating they are forming a soul bond. The bond should be complete sometime in the next week or so and then her emotions will clear up."

The elder dragoness hums before nodding. "Very well, then we'll stay and observe their training until the bond is complete."

"Samui will we be separating them again?"

"No Snow now that we what's going on it's best to keep them together, it'll help the bond form faster." Snow nods.

 **~Two weeks Later~ Lucy P.O.V.**

"Ice Dragon's Roar" I duck to avoid the blast of ice shards from Natsu and counter. "Ice Dragon's Ice Spires"

Grinning I grab the tip of one of the pillars of ice as they shoot up and leap off striking back at Natsu using "Ice Dragon's Claw."

"Damn it Luce you know I hate that move." Standing back to catch my breath I watch as he melts the ice out of his hair.

"I know but it's still fun." He growls and that's the only warning I have before he jumps catching me with a glacial fist. After I pick myself up out of the snow bank I look up to see the elders still sitting on the same ledge they have been since we started training a week ago.

"Hey what are you lookin.." His question dies off as he follows my gaze. "Leave it Luce they just wanted to observe so let them."

I frown but turn around and make my way to my starting spot. "Still it's a little disconcerting." He shrugs and makes his way back to the crater that was his starting position.

"Alright you two that's enough chatting get back to sparring." I raise my fist at Glacier's words and wait for Natsu to make the first move.

Instead of jumping forward like he normally does a magic circle appears in front of him and he waves a hand across it, causing needle like ice shards to shoot at me.

I react quickly using "Ice Dragon's Frozen Shield" and a three foot barrier of ice appears in front of me stopping the shards in their tracks.

Too late I realize it's a distraction as he appears to my left saying "Is that the best you can do Luce?" Instead of dodging I take the hit and smash through one, two, three trees before standing and wiping the blood from my busted lip.

"You haven't seen the best I can do Natsu."

I dodge another 'Glacial Fist' and jump back onto the ice quickly throwing up barriers around me before separating the ice to burrow underneath.

By the time he breaks through the barriers I'm coming up on the other side of the lake. I can't help the smirk that appears at the look he has on his face.

Moving forward I start picking up speed and jump yelling "Ice Dragon's Seven Strike Dance" while he's trying to dodge my right, my knee catches him and before he can duck my left hits him square in the jaw.

After the spell is up I jump a safe distance away as he gathers his bearings. "Damn Luce where the hell did you learn that one?"

"It's something similar to what I saw Gray do on a mission once."

He's about to reply but Glacier steps into the middle of the field. "Very well done both of you, go grab a shower and change and then meet me for dinner. We have much to discuss tonight."

The strange look in her eye catches my attention but I have no chance to think about it as Natsu grabs my wrist and I follow him inside.

After I shower I step out to find Natsu laying back on my bed in nothing but a pair of shorts and I feel a small blush crawl up my neck as I spare a glance his way before stepping over to the dresser.

As I'm pulling out a tank top I hear him get up but ignore it well that is until he runs a hand over the back of my arm.

"Natsu what are you.."

I'm interrupted when I see a movement on my arm. As Natsu moves his hand over my arm a figure moves on the skin of my arm following it until he stops at my wrist.

To say I'm confused would be an understatement because as I watch a dragon of blood red scales crawls moves and wriggles over my arm. First it's head moves then it's arms, legs, and claws stretch but what really catches my attention is when it stretches it's wings.

While the lining of it's wings are blood red the membranes glow a pale yellow. Copying what Natsu had just done I move my hand of the dragon and it follows as I draw a spiral around my wrist but stops when I pull my hand away.

Quietly almost in reverence Natsu reaches towards it again and says quietly "I've heard tales of these before but I didn't think they were real."

I look up at him in confusion and he taps his wrist lightly where a second later a gold dragon appears. Though slightly smaller than the one on my wrist it's just as magnificent.

While my dragon had jet black horns and emerald eyes, Natsu's has white horns, the eyes flashes a beautiful amber gold and the wings glow a shade of red just a bit brighter then my dragon's scales.

I can't keep the wonder out of my voice as I whisper "Natsu what is this?"

Looking back into his eyes I can't keep up with the flickers of emotion flitting through them. "Luce, this is the mark of a soul bond. A soul bond happens very rarely even among dragons and when it does happen it can't be broken. No matter how many times we die or how many lives we live we'll only be meant for each other."

Just as I feel my brain start to melt down from this new information, a wave of calm washes over me and I look down to see the dragon staring at me while it purrs against my skin.

I take a deep breath and exhale before saying "Ok what does this mean for us as in now and in the near future."

His eyebrows furrow and he purses his lips. "Honestly I don't know Dad didn't tell me much on it, just that it could happen and what to look for."

I hum as I take this in and come up with a plan. "Alright after dinner we'll talk to Grandpa Crux about it. That sound like a plan?"

He nods and walks out the door for dinner as I finish getting changed. When I sit down at the table Glacier gets right to business saying "Now then I have good new for you. The first thing is that your training with me is almost over, there is only one more spell for you to learn from me. Now for the second thing I trust you've already found out about your soul bond?"

While I'm able to cover my shock that she knows about the soul bond Natsu on the other hand starts choking a piece of fish he was eating.

Sighing I slide the cup of water to him which he gratefully gulps before saying "How the hell do you know about that, we only just found it ourselves."

Glacier sets her fork down and smiles. "Having had experience with a soul bond before it's not hard to figure out, but I must say your's is a strong one."

Curiosity at how she's seen a soul bond before rises up but I quickly crushes instead deciding on "What exactly does it have to do with our training?"

"Quite simple really, the bond gives you a power boost but it also let's you know where and how your partner is at all times. When your partner is happy, your dragon is happy, when your partner is angry your dragon is angry. But the one thing you never want to see is when your dragon fades to grey."

A flash of sadness appears in her eyes but it's gone so quickly I can't say for sure if I even saw it.

"What's wrong with it going grey?" Glacier looks over at Natsu who apparently forgot about his dinner to pay attention to the conversation.

"When your dragon fades to grey it means your partner is no longer living." There's no mistaking the sadness in her voice at the statement and it clicks.

"Glacier your experience with the soul bond was it personal?" She looks at me in astonishment but it melts away as she nods.

Three seconds later though an ice cold exterior is up and she stands. "Training starts early tomorrow, be ready." And she disappears down the hall leaving me and Natsu alone.

The next morning we're up bright and early and standing outside ready for the final spell. The conversation from last night completely pushed to the backs of our minds.

"Now then the finals spell isn't so much of a spell as a way to lower the temperature around you, sometimes to the point where if anyone gets near you they'll freeze to death in seconds."

As she speaks the temperature drops drastically causing the falling snow to stop in its strack before turning into ice and tinkling as it hits the ground. Around her feet ice grows out lining an area about twenty feet in diameter from where she stands in the center.

Almost as quickly as the temperature dropped it's back to the normal ten degrees fahrenheit.

"Now then your turn Lucy, lower your core temp as much as you think you can, and then lower it more."

Having already learned how to raise my core temperature from Igneel it's not that hard to do the opposite until ice flashes out from under my feet and shoots across the clearing. When I hear a yelp I raise the temperature and turn to see Natsu trying to melt the ice covering his feet.

I laugh at the scowl on his face and he pouts. "Lucy what was that for?"

"Sorry Natsu I didn't know it would happen like that." He jumps up and growls before turning back to Glacier.

"Well done Lucy, though when you lower your core temp try not to do it so fast, when you're fighting with allies it will be best to lower your temp a little at a time so that they don't get hurt."

I nod and she turns to Natsu. "Yea, yea I'm going but you're in for major payback Lucy."

I stick my tongue out at him and he growls again as the temperature drops faster than a rock in water before flashing back up again to almost hot weather.

"Now then since you both have the ability under control, the only thing that's left is for you to practice longevity. I want you to drop the temperature and hold it there until I say stop."

We nod and once more the temperature drops again only this time we hold it until sundown when Glacier tells us to stop.

"Well done Natsu, Lucy you've mastered ice, now Celeste won't be here to pick you up for another week so you have the rest of the time to do as you wish."

* * *

 **So yea I'm back now and be expecting 'Coincidence or Fate?' and 'Dragon's Sanctuary' to be update this week as well as apology for taking so long. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go track down my notebook that had my entire story of COF written in it.**

 **Before you ask my brother is an ass and he decided to hide it. I just hope he didn't burn it.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. New York y'all are some lucky people getting snow already.**


	12. Celeste

**Wahoo! Another chapter done! Though I'm thinking that since I can't seem to get more then one chapter a week done I might change the update days to once a week. That way y'all will actually know when I'm updating instead of hoping the chapter will come out on a certain day. I will admit I keep pushing this and Dragon's sanctuary to the back burner and for that I'm sorry.**

 **DKQ and DS were here before Crews and Christmas and yet they're being neglected. Well that'll change after Christmas since my christmas co-op is almost finished and will be finished by Christmas Day.**

 **So here's what I'm thinking.**

 **DKQ takes over Mondays.**

 **DS takes over Saturdays.**

 **Crews already has Thursdays.**

 **What do y'all think? That sound fair?**

* * *

Chapter 12

Celeste

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Just as night turns to day, and the moon sets for the sun to rise, so does the sun set for the moon to rise, and the stars to come out to play.

On one such night, while the stars dance across the sky, two mages and a dragon stand on a frozen lake at the foot of a mountain.

Not a sound is heard, as pillars of ice rise from the ground and a door swings outward. A dragon with shoulder length bronze-blonde hair, and golden-amber eyes, steps out. She wears a black hoodie with stars along the trim, as well as black jeans and a pair of sneakers.

She stops and bows to Natsu and Lucy.

"Princess Lucy, Prince Natsu, it is my pleasure to see you again so soon. Might I say, you have certainly become stronger since I last met you."

Lucy looks puzzled, but Natsu just grins. "Luce, this is Celeste, she's the one that picked us up on the battlefield, back before this whole adventure started."

Comprehension crosses her eyes at his explanation, and she smiles at the stellar dragon.

"Now, if we may, there is much to learn, and I am sure Glacier would like to return to her peace and quiet."

They look over at Glacier, who nods, and the two mages and stellar dragon disappear through the portal, while the ice dragon enters her den.

The door swings shut, and the portal fades, until there's no indication that one was there at all.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Stepping through the portal is almost like stepping through a normal door, except for the part where an electrical current passes through my bones as I place a foot on the other side.

I turn back around in enough time to see the door in Ice Territory swing shut with a soft click. Turning back around, my breath is stolen from me as I take in the scene before me.

We stand on a landing several steps up, with a small roof held up by pillars. Down the steps, a walkway hardly broad enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder, surrounds a wide lake.

On the other side of the pond, I can make out structures similar to the one we stand under, though each structure looks to be carved in the cliff side.

We follow Celeste as she walks down the steps, and when we reach the bottom, I turn around to see the structure we just stepped off of, as well as more that line the wall. Looking up, I realize that the cliffs completely surround us, creating a deep crater.

Then, my gaze turns back to the lake that sits in the middle. The lake is black, but as I draw closer, I can make out the stars shining in it and when I hold one hand out, a flash of bright, golden energy crosses my mind.

Jumping back in shock, I look up to see that Celeste has an amused expression, and Luce is trying hard, and failing, not to laugh.

"Celeste, what is this?" I ask, motioning towards everything in the crater.

Luce helps me up, and we turn and watch as Celeste kneels next to the lake, just as I was doing, but when she touches the water, it changes color, until an image can be seen. Looking over it, I realize it's a diagram.

"Natsu, Lucy, welcome to the realm of the gates, or, the portal realm, as most creatures tend to call it. This realm is the center point to all others, including the dragon realm and Earthland. It sort of works as the glue that holds them together and allows creatures to travel from one to another."

"So, wait, does that mean that the zodiac gates reside here as well?" Luce questions after a second.

Celeste looks up from where her hand still resides in the water and nods.

"Yes, though the spirit gates have a certain set-up that allows them to skip coming here to pass to Earthland. Instead, they jump straight from the celestial realm to wherever their key holder is."

She stands, and wipes her hands on her pants before walking forward and explaining, "This lake is used by celestial portal keepers, like myself, to check in on the portals that reside in the other realms."

My interest now peaked, I look back at the water. "Does that mean you can see the Earthland portals as well?"

Her expression turns downright depressed, as she flicks her wrist, causing an orb to appear. She holds it out over the water before dropping it in, causing the water to ripple and the stars to disappear, only to reveal an inky black view.

"Sadly, no. When the queen had us cast the sealing spell, it cut our ability to view their portals. Though, somehow, we can still pull up other views of Earthland. It's strange how the spell reacted, but now I think I understand why it did."

She swipes her hand over the water and the inky blackness fades away, to be replaced by the stars once more.

"Now, I know you two have questions but we must begin. While you are here, you will be sleeping during the day and training at night, so that your connection with the stars will be stronger. I'll give you a tour tomorrow, but for right now you must change and eat."

We follow her around the lake and up a set of steps to another door. Whereas the other doors have markings, symbolizing where they go, this one lacks them.

She swings the door open to reveal a short hallway that leads to a cavern. Similar to the den of the water dragon's, several halls branch off, leading farther into the stone. On the walls themselves, carvings are seen, but I ignore them, instead choosing to look down the halls. At least that's the plan, until I hear Luce gasp.

Looking up, I see her staring at one of the carvings on the wall, so I walk over and stand next to her, trying to see what's so important about the carving.

After about five minutes of silence, she runs a hand over a marking. "Natsu, do you know what these are?" I shake my head and she pulls a key off her ring, bringing it up to show me the symbol that is a complete match to what's carved on the wall.

"Natsu, these are the histories of how the eighty-eight constellations came to be. Look here, this is Loke's story." I look from the key to the carvings, unable to believe it.

"Yes, these walls are connected to the memory vault where all spirits store their memories. Each panel pertains to a certain spirit, and what you see here, is what is currently happening to them. Every day, the scene changes."

We turn around as Celeste speaks to see her turning to look at each panel in turn.

Then, she turns her attention back to us. "Come along, now."

We nod, and follow her down a hall towards our rooms. After we change and eat, we head back to the lake.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As the mages step past the door leading to the cavern, the door swings shut behind them and a soft click is heard, while the mages follow the celestial dragon around the lake to where a pedestal sits.

The celestial dragon places her hand on the pedestal, and golden energy shoots from her palm, before flowing down the pedestal and out over the ink, black water.

The energy stops in the middle of the lake and expands out, creating an outline, before connecting back to the pedestal. After it connects, a low shaking is felt and a stone walkway rises out of the water, leading to the middle of the lake.

Once the path finishes rising, the magic fades, and Celeste pulls her hand back before stepping onto the new path.

Without a word, the mages follow her to the center, where the pathway expands into what looks like a sparring stage.

Celeste guides the mages out onto the stone walkway before stating, "This is where you will train, every night. Tonight, with the few hours that are left, you will be starting with unlocking your celestial abilities. Lucy, you will be repeating the basics with Natsu, so, if you please."

Celeste holds out a hand expectantly, and Lucy gulps quietly, before unlatching her keys from her belt and handing them to the dragon.

Celeste takes the keys and ties them to the sash around her waist before starting the instructions.

"Now, take your meditative positions," Both quickly follow her command, and as their breathing steadies, the dragon continues softly.

"Feel the starlight that shines in the sky above, feel the energy as it thrums through your veins. Heed the call of the gates."

Around the mages, a golden glow arises until standing around them are the thirteen gates.

"Excellent, now hold that state."

An hour passes where the mages keep the gates open, until the mages themselves start to glow.

The glow expands until it encompasses each of the gates. Slowly, the glow recedes, until swirling around the mages resides the symbols of the zodiac.

The symbols slow down, then spread out into four rows of three. Three symbols gently lay down on Lucy's right arm, three more on her left. The last six hover until they imprint on Natsu's arms.

Just as purples and dark blues shoot across the skies, Celeste calls a stop to training.

"Alright, that's enough for tonight. I expect you both back out here at dusk to continue."

Natsu stands and pulls Lucy up before turning to follow Celeste back through the corridors to their rooms.

 **~Two weeks later~**

"Open gate of the lion: Leo!"

The familiar flash and Loke appears in front of Natsu, while Lucy stands on the other side of the sparring stage, Sagittarius and Gemini at the ready.

Lucy grins. "Gemini, copy of Capricorn." With a 'peri-peri' the twin spirits change until a copy of Capricorn stares them down.

Grin never fading, Natsu holds an arm out and the marks on it glow as he states, "Open gate of the sea goat: Capricorn! Open gate of the water bearer: Aquarius!"

Lucy visibly flinches at the sight of the water spirit, but holds her arms out in front of her crossing them at the elbow palms down. "Open gate of the maiden: Virgo! Open gate of the ram: Aries! Open gate of the heavenly scales: Libra!"

One by one, the spirits appear until all twelve stand on the field. In front of Natsu stands: Aquarius, Capricorn, Loke, Pisces, Taurus, and Scorpio. In front of Lucy stands: Virgo, Cancer, Aries, Gemini, Sagittarius, and Libra.

On the path Celeste stands, a small smile apparent as the mages turn to her. "Excellent work on the call outs. Now, send them back and move into your fighting stances."

The spirits disappear in a swirl of gold and Natsu and Lucy take on mirrored positions. Their fists start to glow gold and Lucy makes the first move.

Lucy ducks to the left and swings up yelling, "Celestial Dragon's Lunar Fist!" Her left fist flashes white but before the hit can land, Natsu's ducked.

"Seriously, Luce, is that all you got?" Lucy turns around at his voice only to jump to the side as he says, "Celestial Dragon's Comet Roar!"

Several rocks the size of Lucy's head fly by her, the tail of flames following behind them causing them to look like comets.

Lucy grins and disappears. Natsu turns around and flies backwards, skidding to a stop on the edge of the platform, after a glowing fist catches him in the face.

He looks up at his girlfriend and grins before holding one arm out to his side. "Open gate of the sea goat: Capricorn!"

Capricorn appears, looking comically surprised, until Natsu explains, "Help me get a hold of her."

The spirit nods but when they look back at Lucy, they see two Lucy's. Natsu scowls and takes a deep breath.

The scowl turns into a grin as he turns to Capricorn. "Take out the one on the right, I got the left."

When the words, "Open thy malevolent gate. O, 88 Stars of the heaven... Shine! Urano Metria!" Natsu almost panics and jumps forward, avoiding the mass of meteors while tackling the real Lucy to the ground.

"Oh, you are gonna pay for that."

Lucy gives him a bright smile that makes him pause and she uses the distraction to swing around until she has him pinned.

Leaning forward she purrs in his ear. "You were saying?" He tries to wiggle out of his position but nothing works, causing him to go still and huff.

"Yeah, yeah, will you let me up now?"

Lucy giggles, letting him up before they turn to Celeste.

"Well done, you two, it's truly amazing how far you've come in just two weeks time, but as you know there is still a ways to go. So, for now, return to your rooms and we will resume your training tomorrow."

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

While it is most encouraging to hear praise from the celestial dragon, it does not negate the fact that night training is proving to be more difficult than expected.

My arm tingles, and I glance down to see the dragon mark humming in agreement with my thoughts. I smile as I look over to where Natsu walks ahead of me.

We walk through the door to the cavern of the stars where Celeste disappears down a different hall. When the dragon is out of earshot, I heave a sigh of relief.

Natsu looks back at me. "You okay?"

I nod.

"Yeah, these night time training sessions are exhausting."

His eyes fill with understanding.

"Cheer up," he tells me through a yawn. "Just think, we only have three weeks left until we can get back to the guild." Somehow, I find the strength to smile as we walk through the door to my room.

Natsu immediately collapses on the bed and soon after I can hear his soft snores from where they're muffled in the pillows.

I shake my head in exasperation, but I can't help the small smile that appears at how cute he looks; even if his clothes are torn, and his hair is matted to his head from sweat.

Then, my eyes are drawn to the zodiac symbols that shine in the light. From what Celeste said, the symbols allow us to call any of the spirits without requiring their keys and they'll be expected to appear.

Though, Natsu and I both agreed we wouldn't call Pisces and Libra, unless absolutely necessary, since they're contracted to Yukino.

On the arm I can see, I make out the signs of Aquarius, Capricorn, and Loke, and on his other I know sits Pisces, Taurus, and Scorpio.

Turning around, I grab a tank top and a pair of sweatpants before walking across the hall to take my shower.

As I step out of the shower, a symbol on my left arm glows and I look over to see Virgo standing next to the door.

"Virgo, what brings you here?"

She bows.

"Forgive me, Hime, but big brother wanted to know what happened in training after you closed our gates."

I sigh at the nickname she uses for Loke. "Tell him, that if he wants to know then he can come talk to me later."

Virgo nods. "Punishment?"

"No, Virgo."

She nods and a second later her gate closes.

After I get dressed, I walk back into my room to find Natsu flipped on his back, an arm stretched across the bed while the other lays across his eyes. His snoring is comparable to that of a dragon roaring.

I climb in the bed and roll over so that my back is to him and just as I'm about to doze off, I feel his arms wrap around me while his snoring quickly quiets to a purr. When he nuzzles the back of my neck, I can make out a quiet murmur of my name before he settles down again.

I close my eyes and it's not long before I'm joining him in dreamland.

A little while later, I wake up to find myself in the same position as when I fell asleep, and quickly make my way out of Natsu's arms before he has a chance to squeeze the life out of me like he does almost every day.

Walking back into the cavern, I glance at the walls, enjoying the scenes inscribed before making my way down the hall to the door.

I step onto the landing and look around to find a completely different area then how it looks when we're training.

The walls of the crater are a deep black and when the sun hits them I make out a rainbow of colors spread throughout.

The doorways are made of what looks like black marble with white splatters, while the doors themselves are hidden in the shadows of the roof.

The walkway around the pond is made up of gray stone, while the water, normally black with stars, is a dazzling dark blue.

The podium, walkway, and the sparring stage in the middle of the water are also gray stone, but along the edges I can make out runes scrawled in, I assume, dragon language.

I take a step forward and narrow my eyes to help with the brightness, before making my way completely down the steps to stand next to the podium.

Looking over at the podium, I realize that it's covered in runes. The only part that's smooth is the handprint, but other then that it's lines and lines of written words.

Seeing as I'm not Levy, I don't even bother to try and decipher it, instead deciding to step out onto the path, watching the lake rise up to meet my fingertips when I hold my hand out over it.

From a simple touch, I can tell that it isn't ordinary water. I immediately recognize the familiar feeling of my magic as a jolt of energy runs through me.

I smile gently and kneel, letting one hand hover just above the surface, watching the water as it rises and sinks around my hand.

After a minute, I grow tired of this and stand back up, making my way to the sparring stage. Taking a closer look at it, I can make more runes carved along the edges of the stone.

I walk to the middle of the stage where I sit, immediately relaxing into my meditative state. I take a deep breath and exhale, enjoying the silence that surrounds me.

Ten minutes later, I hear the door open and close but I stay where I am as the footsteps draw closer. I take a deep breath and pick up the scent of campfire smoke and cinnamon.

I open my eyes and look up to see him crouching in front of me, watching me curiously. To say that he looks cute when his head's tilted just a bit, and open curiosity is clear in his eyes, is an understatement. He looks adorable.

"Luce, what are you doing out here?" He asks. I shrug.

"Couldn't sleep, so I came out here." He nods at my answer and sits down in front of me.

I look at him in confusion and he grins. "I wanna see what the guild's up to, we haven't done it in a while."

My grin matches his and he takes my hands in his while I close my eyes. Not too long after, I can make out the mixed voices, and when I open my eyes I find myself standing in the middle of the guild.

I look around and can see Erza and Gray sitting at the 'Team Natsu' table, talking to Wendy and Levy, while in the nearby corner I can make out Gajeel watching said table.

I turn around and can see everyone, but I'm also surprised to find no guild brawls in evidence. Elfman is actually flirting with Evergreen from what I can hear, and Lisanna is…

' _Wait, what?'_ I take a double check and can see Lisanna actually _sitting_ in Bickslow's lap. I turn around again and my eyes land on the bar.

There, I see Mira polishing a glass while Laxus is leaning against the counter, staring in my direction. I hear a growl and turn back towards the 'Team Natsu' table to see Gajeel glaring in my direction while his nose is in the air.

I take a step backward and I can see both sets of eyes follow me. Then, I feel two more settle on me. One gaze is curious but I ignore it, instead turning to the second one.

Looking up, I can make out Master standing on the railing. He grins and I turn around to see Wendy standing behind me, smelling the air. Then, she looks up at Master.

"Master, why does it smell like Lucy?"

Master shakes his head before she can draw the attention of the rest of the guild.

I squeak when I hear a whisper coming from Gajeel. "Who are you and why do you smell like Lucy?"

A flash of lightning lands by my feet and I turn again to see Laxus sparking up and glaring at me.

From a distance, I can hear Natsu chuckling. "Have a bit of fun with them; freak them out."

He must really be rubbing off on me because I walk to the doors, feeling their eyes follow me. Slowly, I light my index finger on fire and charge my middle with a spark of lightning before setting them on the doors.

The harsh intakes of breath have me giggling but I can hear Master trying, hard, to hold in a laugh.

After I finish, I step back and admire my handy work, being careful to read it over.

 _1) Lightning doesn't bother me, Sparky._

 _2) Growl all you want, I'm not scared of you._

 _3) Three weeks to the stars._

 _4) Boo!_

I turn around and look up at Master who nods at my hint, while the others stare at it in confusion.

When I hear a laugh, I look over to see Erza scowling and Gray laid out on the bench, laughing his ass off.

"Alright, Luce, time to go."

I groan at his words but I'm already being pulled back to sitting in front of him.

 **~ Three weeks later ~ Natsu P.O.V.**

It's the last night of our training with Celeste. Natsu and I are currently standing on the sparring platform as we wait for the dragon to begin our final lesson.

She looks over at us, and I swear I can make out starshine in her eyes as she begins her instructions.

"My final lesson for you is not necessarily a lesson, but is something required to return to Earthland from the dragon realm." She bends down and lays a hand on the stone.

Her hand glows gold and it spread across the stone, highlighting eleven circles within that were hidden before. Each circle is about as large as my head, and I can make out a symbol in the middle.

When we look back at her, she stands up.

"In order to return to Earthland, you will need to create a portal key. Portal keys can only be used once and require a lot of energy to create."

As I stare at her in confusion, Luce asks the question that circles around my mind.

"Then, how did you pass through the portal to get to us?"

She smiles softly. "In part, it was because of you, but the other part was because I used my own energy to force the portal open. That's why the other dragons were upset with me when you were at the capitol, because, instead of waiting for the others, I used my own energy to cover them."

My confusion clears up at her words and I turn back to the ring of engravings.

"So then, what does this have to do with creating a portal key?"

"All eleven elements are required to create a portal key, that is what each of the symbols represent." She explains. When I nod in understanding, she continues on. "You have to supply enough of each element until the symbol can take no more, then I will chant the creation spell, combining them together."

I look at Luce and raise an eyebrow. "Five and Five?"

She nods and we split up, myself taking care of Fire, Metal, Lightning, Chaos, and Poison, while she takes care of Sky, Light, Shadow, Water, and Celestial.

We meet up at ice, and soon enough that one is complete as well. Stepping back, we walk closer to the edge to make sure we're out of the magic circle, that appeared when we completed ice.

Celeste walks forward and chants something in a language that isn't anything I've heard, causing the elements to react.

At her words, a small string appears, coming from each element, where they start weaving together in front of the celestial dragon.

Slowly, a key starts to take shape, while the elements in their pits dwindle into nothing. After the elements disappear into the key, it drops into the dragon's hands and she smiles before holding it out to us.

"It is ready, and we must leave soon if we are to portal jump before the sun completely rises."

I look up, and sure enough, I can see the sky brightening. I'm not surprised we spent all night, we're used to that, but I am surprised it took so long for the key to form.

Luce takes the key, and we follow Celeste down the path and pass the pedestal for the last time, and as she leads us up a set of steps, I hear rumbling behind me. I turn to see the sparring stage and path crumbling, while the pedestal lowers into the ground.

"Natsu, are you coming?"

I grin and turn towards her.

"Yeah, I'm coming, Luce." I yell, as I make quick steps to walk through to the door, again feeling a zap through my bones, before it closes.

After I step through the portal, I take a look around to find that we're in the landing zone next to the castle, and standing near the doors leading inside, I can see Layla, Dad, and our other teachers, as well as Spark's commanders Valerie and Takashi.

I look to see Luce waiting for me, so I run to catch up to her before walking the rest of the way to her mother and the others.

We stop in front of Layla, and the older woman smiles warmly. "It has been awhile since you were last here,"

Lucy's smile never fades as she nods. "Yes, it has."

Layla nods and asks, "I trust all went well with creating the portal key?"

Luce goes into her key pouch and pulls it out. Layla nods.

"Excellent, now, why don't we have breakfast before you leave?"

She looks up at me but it's my stomach that answers, causing some of the others to laugh.

At breakfast, everyone starts telling stories of our adventures, or misadventures as some are calling them, while Luce and I sit next to each other and quietly eat.

That is, until Dad turns to me with an eyebrow raised. "Did you seriously get your head shaved?"

I scowl at the lightning commander who's laughing at the memory, before turning to Dad and grinning. "Yeah, but he got his payback when I kicked his ass in the final fight."

At my statement, the dragon scowls at me and my grin turns cocky.

Dad cracks up laughing, and Luce and I ease into talking with the others through the rest of breakfast.

Afterwards, though, things turn serious, as Layla leads us down a hall and into an atrium. The ceiling is glass with no visible seams, while the floor is white tile.

In the middle sits a single door that is strikingly similar to the ones in the portal realm, and as we get closer, I can make out a white seal on the door, unlike those in the portal realm.

"What you see here is a portal to Earthland. The seal on it prevents any dragons from opening it on this side without the help of a human on the other. But, that key will allow you to use it only once until you are able to undo the seal."

As the queen talks, we stop about three feet away from the door. Lucy hugs Layla before turning away, so that the queen misses her tears.

Layla catches my eye and I can almost tell what she's thinking, so I give her a reassuring grin. She relaxes, and I turn when I hear the door creak open. Through the door, I can see the Fairy Tail guild hall. Though it looks far away, like I'm seeing it from a distance. Even more peculiar, perhaps, is how I appear to be looking through some kind of alleyway, with dark, brick walls on either side of the periphery, and a dumpster just to my right.

I step forward and hold my hand out to Luce. She takes it and nods, before I step through and pull her with me.

* * *

 **I still have to give my props to _Bluedog197_ and _StrikeForceHeroeTeller_ for the awesome ideas for spells and back ground. **

**And since my brain is shutting down for the day I'll see you for the next chapter.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Y'all will most likely see me Monday for this story.**


	13. Where'd you go?

**Now last chapter we left off with Lucy and Natsu walking through the portal. I guess it's time to see how the guild reacts. I'm not gonna say much up here so I'll see y'all later.**

* * *

Chapter 13

Where'd you go?

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

When we step through the portal, we step out into the alley across from the guild. I stop, and turn back in enough time to see Mama and the dragons one more time before the door swings shut, and disappears soon after.

I take a deep breath, and look at Natsu to see him watching me, a small smile etched across his face as he murmurs, "I'm gonna miss them just as much as you,"

Then I remember that I'm not the only one leaving a parent behind. I nod, and we both turn to see our guild ahead of us.

"Think the message is still up?" I can hear the mirth in his voice and I giggle.

"I'm pretty sure, I mean it's only been about a couple of days on this side since I wrote it."

His smile turns to a mischievous grin, and he kisses me before pulling me along out of the alley, and across the road.

 **Master P.O.V.**

I'm in my office, filling out some reports for the magic council, when I pick up a disturbance in the energy flow outside, but almost as soon as it appears, it disappears, and I can pick up two enormous amounts of energy coming from outside the guild.

Getting up, I make my way out of my office, and jump up to stand on the railing, giving me an expansive view of my children from where they sit. Only a few seem to have picked up the disturbance, those being the slayers, Erza, and Mira. They have their heads turned to the door, where I can still see the message that Lucy burned into the door the other day.

To say that Natsu has rubbed off on her is definite.

My mind turns away from my thoughts, and to the doors, when they burst open, causing the rest of the brats to drop what they're doing and turn to the noise. A grin spreads across my face when I see who it is, while surprise and recognition crosses the faces of most everyone else. Then, it's a stampede.

Everyone jumps from their chairs and tables, and crashes into Natsu and Lucy from where they still stand in the doorway.

I jump off the balcony, landing lightly on the floor below and make my way through the crowd, the brats, seeing me, split up and my way becomes easier until I'm standing in front of the couple.

Even as I watch them, I can make out the marks from their training. The faint gold band around Natsu's neck, the black marks around his wrists, along with the golden bands. On his right cheek, sits a large scar that wraps under his jaw, and the golden marks that gleam when Lucy moves her arms, causing the sleeves of her hoodie to shift.

They, themselves, look different, as well. Natsu's hair is a darker shade of pink then it was just two weeks before, the way he speaks and acts bespeaks of maturity gained, and he's a good few inches taller.

Lucy, on the other hand, is taller as well. Her brown eyes flash with an inner fire similar to Natsu's, and her hair now has streaks of brown running through it. And, while Natsu has a good level more maturity now then he did when he left, she's more relaxed.

When Erza pulls away from giving Lucy a hug, they notice me.

I raise an eyebrow and Lucy grins, a set of fangs that doesn't go unnoticed gleams back at me.

"Hello, Master."

"Hello, child, how was your mission?"

Natsu is the one to reply. "It was great..."

Lucy elbows him in the side interrupting him. "Master, would it be alright if we talked to you in your office?"

I nod. "Of course, but Gray and Erza will have to come as well."

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch them watching on in confusion, as I turn and make my way up the steps.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

As we follow Gramps up the steps to his office, I can hear the whispers behind us coming from our team members, as well as the rest of the guild, but ignore it when Lucy hooks her finger around mine.

We had agreed before we jumped through the portal, that we would hide the fact that we're together from the guild for the time being, with Master, Ice princess, and Erza being the only exceptions.

Gramps opens his door and we follow him in, with Erza shutting the door behind us. We stop in front of his desk while he jumps up, so that he's sitting on it before he starts speaking.

"I take it you two have completed your training?"

I nod and Lucy picks the explanation.

"Yes, Master, we only have to wait for the time period to pass before we can remove the seal."

He nods and looks at me. "Natsu, I know much happened during your training, but I can also see the mark of Zeref you wear. Why don't you explain?"

I let out a silent sigh at the gasp from behind us, and reach up, unwrapping my scarf to show him the marks more clearly.

"It happened when we were training with Skiadrum and Weisslogia. Apparently, sometime in my past I came in contact with Zeref before Tenrou and he put some kind of seal on me. Weisslogia removed the seal but I spent the next week out cold, after being dropped into some kind of purifying spring."

Master nods and Ice princess asks, "What do you mean a week?"

I turn around and catch his eye as I explain. "While we've been gone about two weeks here, we've spent a year in the dragon realm."

He huffs, but when he goes to reply, Gramps interrupts him. "Why don't you two start from the beginning?" He suggests.

We take seats in front of him, and Luce and I spend the next three hours explaining to them everything from the capital to using the portal key to getting home, going so far as to explain the soul bond we share.

In the end, we pull up our hoodies to show them the zodiac symbols that lay on our arms, while Erza and Ice prick ask a million-and-one questions.

Finally, Gramps holds up his hand to stop them. "I think that's enough questions. If you want to test out what exactly you're capable of, and show your teammates, I suggest taking an S-Class mission. If I remember correctly, Mira just posted a pretty easy one you may want to give a go."

We share a look and stare at Gramps in surprise, while Ice dick chokes on his spit in surprise.

"Gramps, are you sure you ain't lost it?"

The old man chuckles at my question. "Yes, Natsu, I'm all there, I just have a feeling that a typical mission wouldn't be enough for you to completely test your new abilities, and while you've had a year to get used to them, I'm sure you would like to share with your teammates just what exactly that means, while preventing the rest of the guild from finding out just yet."

Normally I'm all for a good fight, but Dad's words still ring in my ears. Sensing my hesitation, Luce grabs my hand, and I feel the dragon mark respond, so finally I nod.

"Alright, you win."

Gramps nods and we leave his office, quickly making our way to the S-Class board. Almost as soon as we reach it, I start picking up whispers from our guildmates below.

I look over the board, and quickly find the mission Gramps was talking about. A simple, quick, two-week mission to take out an army of bandits that are gathering near Clover town.

We turn, and make our way downstairs, where Erza and Ice princess already stand at the bar. I hand the mission to Mira, who reads it over before saying, "You'll need an extra two mages to complete this."

I nod and look around the guildhall my attention quickly being drawn to Wendy and Metalhead. Luce follows my gaze and walks over to them.

Their gazes flick to me and they walk over.

"Salamander, what's this about you taking an S-Class?"

I scowl at his question and ask, "Do you want to come or what?"

He stares at me before his gaze lowers to the floor. I pause, the fact that Metalhead just lowered his gaze in submission shocking the hell out of me.

Though no one would be able to tell, because a second later, in his usual gruffness he replies, "Yeah, Salamander, I'll go with ya."

I look at Wendy and she nods, "Of course, I'll go!"

I grin and Erza takes over. "Excellent, now that we have the whole team, we'll meet up at the train station in three hours," then she stares me down. "And, if you're not there, I'll hunt you down."

The shiver I'm expecting never happens, but I salute anyway.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

As I watch Natsu and Gray interact with Erza, I pick up on the change in my boyfriend's demeanor around the knight. Where as before he would salute out of fear, and give her a shaky 'Aye, Sir', now he doesn't seem to fear her at all, and when he gives an, 'Aye, Sir', it's solid, no stuttering.

Erza seems to see this as well as she turns a questioning gaze my way. I shrug, not really knowing what to say, and she seems to take my answer at face value.

Erza turns and leaves to go pack, but Gray, Gajeel, and Wendy walk with us to my apartment. Fortunately, Natsu keeps a sack of clothes at my place for situations where he doesn't feel like going home to pack, so I'm the only one that needs to.

As I'm running around throwing clothes into my bag, a gold flash catches my eye, and I look out my bedroom door to see Loke standing next to Natsu, talking to the others. When a rush of energy runs through me, I look again to see Loke holding one of Natsu's limiters away from him, while Natsu's trying not to lose his cool.

I sigh, and drop my core temperature until everything freezes, causing the others to look at me in surprise, while Loke looks chagrined.

"Loke, how many times do I have to tell you not to take his limiters?" I hear the lion huff, and when I turn my gaze on him, he shivers before forcing the bracelet back into Natsu's hands.

"I didn't take it, Gray did." He lamely explains. I growl in response. He yelps, and disappears back to the spirit realm. With a sigh, I raise my core until it's slightly above average, and the ice and frost quickly disappears as well.

When the smell of wintergreen mint hits my nose, I look up to see Gray leaning on the doorframe wearing a confused expression, and nothing but a pair of boxers.

"What's up, Gray?" I ask, innocently enough.

He chews on his tongue for a second before seeming to make up his mind. "You and Flame brain are much stronger than the energy that is radiating off of you now, aren't you?"

I tilt my head in mock confusion and he throws a thumb over his shoulder, pointing to where Natsu is talking to Gajeel and Wendy, most likely telling them about their parents from the way Wendy looks like she's about to break down.

I sigh, and nod. "Yes, we are much stronger than when we left. Have our bodies changed physically with the new magics we've learned? Yes, they have." then I catch his eye. "But, we are still your nakama; you are still our family. That will never change."

Zipping up my bag, I set it on the floor before sitting down on the bed. "Gray, part of the reason we finished our training two months early, is because we pushed each other to master the spells needed so we could get back sooner. Hell, we were training so hard, that Natsu didn't complain about his hunger at all."

A vibration in between my shoulder blades brings my attention to my dragon, and I look up to see Natsu watching me with concern. The other slayers seem to have left to pack their bags, and meet us at the station.

I give him a small smile, and he nods before disappearing around the door frame. Turning my attention back to Gray, I find him watching me, and I'm guessing the exchange I had with Natsu.

"Hey, Lucy?" He asks, hesitation coloring his tone. I nod to show him I'm listening. "Why is the dragon tattoo on your back moving?"

I smile softly, and turn my palm up so he can see it clearly. I take a finger and gently tap the center of my palm causing the dragon to walk from where he sits in between my shoulder blades to my palm.

When the dragon stops moving, Gray leans over and jumps back when the dragon snorts, causing a few puffs of smoke to escape it's nose and rise off my skin.

"What the hell?"

I laugh, and run a hand along its wings, calming it down before stating simply, "It's a soul bond. Very rare, but it links two souls together for eternity. But if your mark should turn gray, it means your other half has passed on."

He looks like he's about to ask something else, but instead chooses to simply nod, and turn to the door. "I'll be seeing you and Flame Brain at the train station."

"Alright, see you then." I reply quickly, and he walks out, leaving me to sit on my bed, watching as the dragon moves it's wings so that it's playing with Gemini's symbol.

I almost laugh when a miniature version of the dragon pops up from the symbol, causing the dragon to turn it's head so that it's watching it more closely.

"Is your dragon playing with Gemini again?"

I lift my head to see Natsu leaning against the door frame again.

"Yeah, Gemini loves to spook it by creating a miniature version of it."

He huffs. "At least your's isn't constantly pissing Aquarius off. Almost every time I look, mine is drenched because it did something to rile her up."

My gaze flicks to where his dragon sits on his upper arm, and as I watch, a wave of water appears from the water bearer's symbol and crashes into it, leaving it soaked.

I get up and walk up to him. "Tsk, poor thing. We'll just have to change that, won't we?"

A growl escapes him at my words and he watches as I drag a finger across his skin allowing the dragon to move away from the temperamental spirit.

Slowly, it follows, until I stop in the middle of his chest, and place my whole hand on it, causing it to curl in response. I lean up and capture his lips with mine in a quick kiss before turning away and picking up my bag.

I giggle when I hear a growl as I walk by, and before I know what's happening, he's slammed me into the wall.

"You're a damn tease, you know that, right?" He growls. I grin.

"I know, but we have to go before Erza breaks down my door."

He growls in annoyance, and kisses me before pulling away and mumbling under his breath.

Picking up my bag, I open the front door to see a blushing Wendy, and a smirking Gajeel.

"Bunny girl, Salamander, are we going, or what?"

I walk past them, leaving Natsu to reply.

"Yeah, we're coming, Metalhead, just hold your rust."

Gajeel opens his mouth to retort, but he looks surprisingly stumped, like he's hunting for a better gibe.

Finally, he settles for, "Well, shit, you spent more time with that ass then I thought. Only he could come up with shit that good."

Natsu grins, and throws his pack over his shoulder as he follows me, while Gajeel trails a bit off to his right, and Wendy hugs my left.

When we get to the train station, we find Erza and Gray already sitting on a bench with our tickets. Luckily, just as we're meeting up with them, the train pulls into the station, and we climb on.

When we sit down in one of the compartments, Erza turns to Natsu. "Would you like me to knock you out now, or when you're in agony?"

Natsu grins, leaning back so that his arms are resting behind his head, and he's leaning his head on them. "Actually, thanks to the sky..." Natsu begins.

"Dragon training, he..." I pick up the line in a casual tone, laying my head against his shoulder.

"I don't have to worry..."

"About motion sickness anymore." I finish.

They look from Natsu, to where I lean against his shoulder, and back to Natsu. And finally, Wendy asks the question that seems to be on their minds.

"How long have you been able to finish each other's sentences?"

I sit up, and Natsu and I look at each other before shrugging. He lays back down, leaving me to answer her question.

"That's actually the first time we've noticed it,"

Wendy nods in understanding, and everyone leans back to try and get some rest, while Gajeel lays on the floor, trying hard to keep his stomach together.

I lay my head in the crook of Natsu's shoulder, and it's not long before I fall asleep, between being wrapped in Natsu's scent and the rocking of the wheels.

A little while later, I wake up to see everyone asleep, except for Wendy, who's staring at us with a light blush.

I look down, and realize why she's blushing. Sometime while I was asleep, Natsu moved to where his arms are wrapped around my waist and his head is in my lap. I smile softly, and run a hand through his hair, causing him to purr.

When I let my hand drop from his head, his knees curl in tighter, and his embrace becomes tighter as well, until I resume my actions, then the purring picks back up, and his hold loosens just a bit.

"Is he always like that?"

I look up at the sky slayer and nod. "Though, it was worse when we were training with ice," I grimace at the memory, but remind myself it won't happen again.

"What happened?"

I sigh, and raise my other hand, palm up so that ice forms on it as I explain. "I had a bit of a meltdown when we started learning the element. It wasn't fun for me, or him, and let's just say he turned overprotective. He wouldn't let me out of his sight for more than a few minutes and he was always by my side."

She nods, and things remain quiet until the train pulls into the station. As the train rolls to a stop, Wendy wakes up Gray and Erza, and Gajeel's shaking off his stupor.

Leaning down, I whisper in Natsu's ear. "Natsu, food."

The effect is immediate, as he jumps up while simultaneously turning a full three-sixty, until he's standing with his back to the window, and he's looking around the cabin with wide, hungry eyes.

When he realizes there isn't any food, he turns to me with a pout, and I point at the window. He turns to look out the window, then reaches over my head to grab our packs.

Slowly, we file out onto the train platform and make our way into town to meet up with the mayor.

After our meeting with the mayor, we're walking down the street to the hotel to check in, when I see something from the corner of my eye.

I turn my head to see an alley, and change direction until I'm standing at the edge of it. I blink, switching over to chaos mode, but still I don't see anything, and shrug before turning to catch up to Natsu, where he stands waiting for me.

He tilts his head as he looks between me and the alley, and frowns. "What were you looking for in there, Luce?"

"I thought I saw something, but I guess it was just my imagination." He nods at my explanation, before grabbing me by my wrist, and running to catch up to where the others are entering the hotel.

We stop in front of the counter while Erza talks to the concierge, who hands over two keys. Erza turns back to us and states, "Us girls will be in one room, while the guys are in the other."

Not liking the news that the guys have to stay in the same room, they let out a simultaneous groan, but straighten up when Erza glares at them and adds, "There will be no fighting, no arguing, and if one thing is broke, you lose your share of the reward."

Gajeel nods, Gray shivers and gives a salute, while Natsu nods calmly before taking the key from Erza, and walking down the hall towards their room.

I follow Erza to our room, and drop my bag on one of the beds, while Erza takes the one closest to the window, and Wendy takes the one across from us.

Later that night, I'm laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, with the blanket kicked to the end of the bed. Erza's dead to the world, and Wendy's sleeping soundly.

With a sigh, I sit up, folding my legs underneath me, and laying my head on my hand as I look out the window.

As I watch, a shadow crawls through the crack in the glass door, and wanders over to my bed after running into Erza's, knocking the bed back an inch. It shakes itself, and rises to reveal Natsu pouting as he rubs his head. He grins, and I squeal when he jumps onto the bed with me.

Quickly, I turn my head to make sure he didn't wake Erza up before looking over at the sky slayer to see her safely sound asleep.

"Natsu, what are you doing here?" I hiss quietly. He wraps his arms around my waist, and I can feel him shrug.

"I couldn't sleep." Is his only explanation. I sigh, and rub circles on his back.

"Natsu, you know Erza is gonna murder you if she finds out you're in here, right?"

His head turns up, and I can see his eyes turn to slits, and I feel my resolve caving.

"Fine," I relent, "just make sure you're back in your room before she gets up." He nods, and I lie back down, while turning onto my side as he stretches out.

Hearing his purr lulls me to sleep, and when I wake up, I hear snickering. Slowly, I crack open an eyelid to make out several shapes surrounding the bed.

As the rest of me starts to wake up, I can feel Natsu's arms around my waist, while his head lies on my stomach, and no doubt if I was to look, his legs will be entangled with mine.

I'm used to it, really; he started doing this when we were with Celeste. Better this position than a more embarrassing one.

I open my eyes fully to see not only Erza scowling, but Gray trying to hide a laugh, while I can hear Gajeel's weird 'gihi'.

Stretching my arms above my head, I lower them to try and push Natsu away, but he growls, and holds on tighter, forcing me to resort to Plan B.

I have already learned that when he's like this he won't listen to my usual remarks on food. So I bring a hand to hover over the nape of his neck, charge my index and thumb with a large enough spark, and press down.

As expected, he yelps and jumps up, landing to stand next to bed, staring at me with wide eyes. I sit up, and pull my legs under me as his senses seem to come online, and he glares at Gray and Gajeel, who are laid out on the floor, clutching their sides from laughing.

Natsu goes to jump at them, but Erza grabs him by his scarf. She glares at him fiercely, but again, I see none of the fear he used to show when she had him like this. Instead, he crosses his arms and returns the glare. Erza takes this in stride, and states calmly,

"Natsu, go get ready, we leave in five to start searching. Gray, Gajeel, you go as well."

They nod, and Erza drops Natsu, who calmly walks out the door, the other boys following him without another word.

Sighing, I get up, and grab a change of clothes from my bag before going to the bathroom and getting ready.

When I open the door, I pause, because on the opposite wall sits a floor length mirror. Slowly, I step forward, taking in my appearance. From my red skirt with black trim that stops mid thigh, to the t-shirt that stops just below my navel; my hair, which now has streaks of light brown and just touches my waist, to my eyes, which are no longer just brown. Now, I can make out bits of gold in them.

My attention is drawn away, though, when there's a knock at the door. Turning around, I open it to find Gray standing there without a shirt.

"Erza sent me up to see if you were ready,"

I smile, and he relaxes as I walk past him. "Yeah, I'm ready, though you may want to put a shirt on before Erza sees you."

He looks down. "What the hell?"

He turns and enters the next door down, before walking out a few seconds later as he buttons up his shirt.

I turn and walk down the hall, entering the lobby a few minutes later to see Natsu and Gajeel growling over something, while Erza and Wendy watch on with amusement.

We walk over quietly, and finally Natsu speaks up, loud enough for the rest of us to hear. "Damn it, Luce, tell this bucket-of-bolts that I beat Metalicana."

I walk around, and lay a hand on his shoulder, giving him a pitying look. "Oh, but, Natsu, I was the one that made him surrender, you couldn't lay a hand on him."

His head jerks up, and his jaw drops. Gajeel falls from his seat, his gruff laughter reaching us from the floor. Then Natsu's mouth snaps shut and he pouts. I roll my eyes before turning to Erza.

"So, where do we start on finding these bandits?"

Erza looks over at where Gajeel is picking himself up, before answering my question. "We'll be starting on the west side of town."

We nod, and follow her out and down the street, but as we walk, I get this feeling of being watched, so as we turn a corner, I turn my head enough to catch sight of a flash of fabric as it disappears down a nearby alley.

My interest peaked, I lay a finger on a nearby wall and whisper, "Celestial Dragon's Tracking Star."

Where my finger touches the wall, a faint outline of a four pointed star, about an inch from point to point, appears and shoots across the wall, heading towards where the fabric disappeared.

I turn my attention back to the group, and catch up in enough time to hear Erza handing out orders.

"We'll split up and comb the warehouses, as well as the woods nearby. Stay in teams. Gajeel, you and Gray are partners." Gajeel snorts at her words, while Gray looks on in indifference. "Wendy, you'll be my partner," she smiles and nods as Erza turns and stares Natsu down. "There will be no destroying and no burning. Remember, we only need to track them down for now."

He nods, and we split up, Gray and Gajeel walking down the street, while Erza and Wendy walk up the street.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

As we search the warehouses, I notice that Luce keeps getting distracted, so finally, I pull her off to the side.

"Luce, what's going on?"

She looks up at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"

I snort and gesture back the way we came. "Ever since we split from the group, you've been distracted."

She opens her mouth to say something but a clatter from the alley gains our attention. I look back at her, and we take off jogging down the alley, towards where the sound is coming from. We turn a corner, and I pick up an extremely familiar scent of strawberries and metal shavings. Hearing a growl from my right, I glance over to see that Lucy's picked it up as well.

As we follow the scent, we slow to a stop in front of one of the newer looking warehouses in the the town. We walk up to the door to see it slightly open, and I push it open further to see Erza passed out on the ground, and Wendy trying to hold her own against a group of thirty men.

"Natsu, take care of Erza!" My head jerks at the command, and I look to see Lucy running towards to Wendy.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

As I take in the scene before me, my eyes catch a glimpse of metal, and I act quickly, telling Natsu to check on Erza, while I push my legs to jump in front of Wendy.

I hold my arms up, protecting Wendy as my scales shoot across my arms and legs, in just enough time to avoid the array of weapons that were being thrown at the slayer.

I growl, and lower my arms, glaring at them. When I hear a chuckle, I look up to see a man wearing a black cloak, standing on the catwalk above. I try to look closer, but I can't make out any details since he's wearing a half black/half white mask.

"So, you are the Fairy Tail mages we've heard so much about. The strongest team in that pathetic excuse of a guild. 'Team Natsu'." As he says it, he uses air quotes for emphasis, and I can make out quiet chuckling from a few of the men in front of us.

"Seeing as that is Wendy Marvell, the sky maiden behind you, and Erza 'Titania' Scarlet is unconscious, I'm assuming you must be that worthless celestial mage, Lucy Heartfilia, and the pink haired idiot would be none other than Natsu 'Salamander' Dragneel."

I feel my anger rise as he insults us, so I subtly lower my core to cool my temper and to give me a hand up on these assholes.

As the temperature drops, I can feel Natsu's eyes on me, and I glance back to see him watching me with interest.

Deciding to take the risk, I turn around to check on Wendy. Looking her over, I can tell she's not hurt. "You ready?" Her eyes raise to mine at my whisper and she grins. Turning back around, I ball my fist, drawing from the negative emotions the men are giving off until I can no longer hide it, and bring it up until it's in front of me.

I can see their eyes go wide, and grin as I remember Acnologia doing the same thing during our battle. I toss the orb of chaos up, testing its weight, before tossing it up just a bit higher and waving my hand in front of me whispering, "Chaos Dragon's Nightmare 1,000 Dart formation."

The orb scatters before my eyes, and flies forward as pieces of darkness the size of pine needles. Wendy blows them forward, and they impact harder then they would have. The screams that come from the men are satisfying, until the man in the mask jumps from the catwalk, and lands in front of his men.

As I swing my fist up it freezes, then, when I repeat the process with my other, it also freezes, until my arms are stuck level with my waist. Then I realize I can't move the rest of my body as he walks closer.

When he gets close enough, he trails a finger along my chin, and I hear Natsu growl, but what surprises me more is when I hear a second lower growl from Wendy.

He leans even closer, and whispers near my ear. "You see, Ms. Heartfilia, I am a blood and puppet mage. Meaning, I can make your body do anything I want."

I feel a shiver run up my spine, until my dragon heats up and I hear, "Fire Dragon's Barricade!" A wall of fire surrounds us, and I get an idea of what Natsu wants me to do when I hear him grab Wendy. My lips twitch in an attempt to grin, though it doesn't raise much as the man leans back.

Pulling out all the stops, my core temperature drops quicker than a boulder in a lake. The temperature drops so fast, the fire flash freezes, but so does the masked man. When I can control my limbs again, I raise my core temperature.

When it's safe enough for my celestial magic, I chant, "Star Dress: Taurus"

While yes, Natsu has his symbol, I can still call him, and his dress, to my command. And when the change is complete, I do a roundhouse kick, shattering the statue, and sending pieces flying.

Turning back around to see Natsu lowering a fire shield, I let my dress fade and my normal clothes come back. I walk to Erza to see she's still out, and kneel beside her.

"You're the one with the healing powers." Natsu reminds me.

Holding my hands over her, I let my magic work, and eventually she comes around. I look up to see Wendy watching me curiously, and I tilt my head in return. Finally, she smiles, and we make our way out of the warehouse.

When we get back to the hotel, Gajeel and Gray are already waiting in the lobby. We continue walking on until we end up in our room. Me, Natsu, and Wendy all lounge on the beds, while Gray sits in a chair at the table, and Gajeel leans against a wall, but Erza just stands in the middle of the room.

While everyone's talking, Natsu places me in his lap, and I lean back with a sigh when he wraps his arms around me. He lays his chin on my shoulder, and I hear him growl lightly, "You were amazing out there, you know."

I smile and tune back into the conversation, as Gray and Gajeel explain how they'd seen nothing on their search. Then the conversation turns to me when Wendy speaks up.

"Lucy, what was that spell with the black pine needles you used?"

I sigh, and can feel my eyes flicker at the thought of the chaos magic. "That was from one of the other dragons we trained under, though we try to avoid using that magic as much as possible."

She looks confused, so Natsu adds, "The magic is dangerous, because if you're not careful, you'll easily fall under the negative emotions you're trying to control, that's why we made the pact not to use it unless necessary."

Finally, Wendy nods in understanding, and Erza brings the meeting to a close so we can get some sleep since, 'we're starting bright and early', says the one who is dead to the world as soon as she hits the pillow.

Over the next week, we manage to bring down each hideout in the town, and in the woods nearby, with no damage or loss of the reward, which makes everyone happy since that's the first time it's ever happened when Gray, Gajeel, and Natsu team up.

The train ride back is just as peaceful as it was there, and soon Natsu's kicking the guild doors open announcing our return.

However, before we can settle down and start telling everyone how the mission went, Master calls our attention.

"I'm glad you brats are back, because I have an announcement."

* * *

 **What do you think the announcement is? Y'all will just have to follow, fave, and review to see next week.**

 **But right now I have to say that I have the greatest editor in the world. Because even while she's busy with a crazy household she still managed to find the time to edit this all in one night.**

 **Plus, she's the one that stays on my ass about getting the chapters done in a good amount of time for her to edit, while also handling the fact that there are certain times I won't have a computer to work.**

 **So if y'all don't mind go over to Stele's page and blow up her email for me, for being such an amazing friend and editor.**

 **I think that's about it for now though so until next time.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Happy New Year! Hello 2017.**


	14. Beach Vacation

**First up I'm sick. I hate being sick. My brain pretty much shuts down and I can think of nothing but sleep and how much I want to strangle my brother for making me sick. That's why this chapter is short. Most might think that 3,511 words isn't really that short, but y'all have seen my other writings. This isn't one of the shortest but it's still short.**

 **Now last chapter we left off with a cliffhanger. Makarov had something to tell the returning team so why don't you read on ahead to find out what it is and I'll see y'all at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 14

Beach Vacation

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

We stop just inside the guild doors as Gramps speaks, and turn our gaze up to the second floor, where he stands on the railings.

"Now listen up, the Grand Magic Games are coming up in a month's time, so the two teams that are going this time round will be…" he unfolds a paper before announcing the names. "The mages on Team A are Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, and Wendy, with Elfman on reserve."

I almost chuckle when I hear Juvia fall into a puddle at the sound of being on our team before turning back to listen to the Team B members.

"The mages on Team B include Gajeel, Laxus, Mira, Juvia, and Jellal, with Levy on reserve."

I'm surprised when he says Jellal, until Luce leans over and whispers in my ear.

"Magic council dropped the charges on the order that he stay in the guild."

Nodding, I hear Gramps finish out his announcement with, "I suggest you brats leave today to start training, and meet back here in three weeks."

After he jumps down we walk out of the guild, and a few hours later we're meeting back up at the train station, though I'm surprised when I see Gajeel and his team standing there with Erza and Gray.

When Erza sees us she smiles. "Glad to see you made it in time, Gajeel and his group are gonna be training with us."

I arch an eyebrow. "Where are we gonna be training, anyway?"

Ice dick reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out some tickets. I take one and look at it, before looking back at him in confusion.

"We're going to a resort further down the coast. It's called the Rod 'n' Reel Resort." He explains.

"Hey, Natsu, do you think there'll be fish?"

I look up at Happy and grin. "Of course, there's gonna be fish, buddy. I mean, it has to if it's called 'Rod 'n' Reel'."

Happy drools, and I laugh as Lucy takes my tickets and puts them with hers in her key pouch for safekeeping.

When the train pulls up, we get on and get a car to ourselves, allowing everyone to stretch out, mainly for Metalhead and Sparky's benefit. We sit down, and soon after the train pulls out of the station.

I lay an arm around Lucy's shoulder and play with her dragon mark, dragging my finger over her skin and causing it to move. As it moves closer, it tries to snap at my finger, but I move my finger away, causing the dragon to repeat the process.

I'm so caught up in what I'm doing that I don't make out that someone's asking me a question until Lucy elbows me in the side, allowing the dragon to get close enough to latch onto my finger.

I yelp, and pull my hand away, scowling at it. Its lip twitches, and I swear to all the gods of Earthland that it's smirking at me.

Turning my attention back to the train car, I see everyone is watching me, while my girlfriend is trying not to laugh out loud at me.

"That's what you get for teasing it," she sasses in my ear.

I huff at her murmured words. "No, that thing's just vicious."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, please, no more vicious than you."

I stick my tongue out at her, and feel a jolt of electricity run through me. Pulling away, I raise a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Did you just _shock_ me?" I ask incredulously.

She shrugs, but as she goes back to her book, I can see a mischievous glint in her chocolate eyes.

With a sigh, I lean back against her, and look across the train car to see Jellal with an arm around Erza's shoulder as she shines one of her swords. Juvia's glued to ice princess as he sleeps, stretched out across the seats, while Metalhead is on the floor curled around Levy's feet. Much the same goes for Laxus, though, he isn't so obvious about how he's curled around Mira's feet while she's watching us.

I lean forward a bit, and can see Wendy curled up, asleep, on Lucy's other side. Leaning back with a sigh, I lay my head on her shoulder and soon doze off.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I'm curious as to why Master would put us in the Grand Magic Games, but he's the master so I'll go along with it.

I look out the window, and can feel the train slowing down as we approach our stop, and start waking Natsu up while Levy and Mira do the same with their slayers. At least now I don't have to worry about Natsu barfing on my shoes when I wake him up.

By the time the train stops, everyone's up and are grabbing their bags from the overhead racks. Or, in my case, I'm grabbing an out-cold blue Exceed, while Natsu is grabbing my bag as well as his own.

I'm surprised that no one asked any questions while we were on the train, but I have a feeling that's because Master's already filled them in on a bit of the situation.

As we walk away from the train station, my breath is stolen from me at the beauty of the resort. Instead of it being one tall hotel, it's actually wooden huts that sit out on the water, connected to the land by a wooden bridge wide enough to fit six people shoulder-to-shoulder.

The water itself is so clear that I'm able to see a fish swimming a hundred-yards out, while the sand is so white it reminds me of Weisslogia's scales.

The road we're on soon changes from pavestones to dirt, then brown sand, and eventually, as we reach the one hut where we check-in, the sand turns to white.

We get our room keys, and when we walk across the bridge, we are surprised to find that our huts are right across from each other, with another wooden bridge to span the open water between them.

I unlock the door to our hut, and Natsu sets our bags on our bed before digging through our cases for our swimsuits. He tosses mine at me, and I catch it as I shut the door with my foot.

As I look at it, I arch an eyebrow, and look back up to see him smirking.

"Seriously?" I deadpan.

"What?" His expression is innocent, but I know better.

I raise the hand with the fiery themed two-piece.

"What did you do with my other set?" I demand, not falling for that innocent smile one bit.

His expression changes again, this time turning sheepish. "I like that one better, it suits you." he states

I roll my eyes, and walk behind the divider to change. When I walk back out, I find him sitting on the bed, already changed into his swim trunks, which _just so happens_ to match my swim suit.

"You know, I am so getting you back for that," I warn, as I walk past him and grab the door knob.

"I know, and I can't wait."

Chills travel up my spine when I hear his reply, and I throw the door open to see the women leaning on the railing, huddling around something, while the guys are throwing each other into the water.

While I walk over to the women, Natsu runs up behind Gray and pushes him and Gajeel into the water before cannonballing in himself.

When Erza sees me, she pulls away from the huddle, and I can see something gold flash on the railing. Stepping past her, my jaw drops when I see a golden-yellow Exceed with white fur on all four paws, and a white patch on the back of her neck that travels up and over her head, stopping at the base of her nose.

The Exceed's back is to me at the moment, but as she speaks I can discern that she is, in fact, female..

"Could you help me, please? I'm looking for a woman that goes by the name Lucy Dragneel." she asks.

My face flushes bright red when they all turn their attention to me, but I'm not really embarrassed, in dragon customs Natsu and I are married, even if we haven't tied the knot in human terms yet.

I clear my throat pointedly, and the Exceed turns around. The first thing I notice is that her eyes are heterochromatic. Her left eye is a light brown with golden specks while her right is black with emerald green. Then I pay attention to her voice, it's sweet like honey but has a steeliness to it that makes me listen, almost like the sweetness draws us in, but the steel traps us once we're there.

I'm drawn from my observations when she asks, "Are you Lucy Dragneel?"

I smile, and the tension she seems to be holding melts when I answer. "Yes, I am. If I may ask, who are you, and why are you looking for me?"

She nods, and takes off a tan pack before digging through it and pulling out an envelope. She hands it to me, stating, "My name is Clarisse, but everyone calls me Clare for short. As for why I'm looking for you, that letter explains it."

I nod, and turn the letter over, taking note of the wax seal—a wing—before breaking it and pulling out the paper. Unfolding it, I read:

 _Queen Lucy,_

 _To honor the completion of yours and King Natsu's training with the dragons, I have asked Clarisse if she would be your personal Exceed, just as King Natsu has Happy as his._

 _She is a lovable and kind Exceed, but does not tolerate downgrading remarks, and will speak her mind if she wishes. Above all, she is loyal, and will help you in any situation you may find yourself in._

 _With that said, I wish you a fun month in the sun, and the best of luck in the games._

 _Queen Shagotte._

I read it a second and third time, shocked speechless that the queen of the Exceeds has heard about Natsu and I, and decided that I may need an Exceed of my own.

My eyebrows furrow, and I look up at Clarisse. "Do you _want_ to be my Exceed? Because I won't make you do anything you don't want to."

She looks at me in surprise, but nods. "Queen Shagotte feels I may be of the best fit to your personality, as well as your lifestyle as a Fairy Tail mage."

I nod, and a second later I smile. "Well, then, welcome to the family, Clarisse."

She smiles, almost hesitantly, but it isn't long before all the women are welcoming her.

"Yo, are we training or not?"

We glance up at the voice to see that Natsu has Gajeel's fist in one hand, and is dangling Gray out over the water by just his trunks, which are slowly beginning to slip farther down the ice wizard's hips.

"Natsu, come here," at my command, he raises an eyebrow, but immediately drops Gray, causing him to let out a string of curses, before throwing Gajeel after him.

He walks over, and when he sees Clare he glances at me with a frown. "Who's the cat?"

There's a puff of smoke, and gasps can be heard as Clare changes from a cat to a girl that's about my height, with shoulder length golden-blonde hair that has white streaks.

What gives it away that she's a cat is the fact that she still has her white tipped tail, ears, and her eyes are still the same.

She stands up and bows to Natsu before stating, "I am Clarisse, and I am Queen Lucy's personal Exceed."

Natsu reels back a second at the formal gesture before getting his act together. "Clarisse, if you are part of the family there is no need to be so formal, just call us Natsu and Lucy."

She looks surprised and turns to me. My smile never fades as I step forward and extend a hand. "What Natsu said is true, Clare, we are all family here."

Finally, she smiles a real smile as she shakes my hand. "Thank you, Lucy, Natsu, for welcoming me with open arms into your family."

"Has anyone seen Gaj-who are you?"

I look up at the question to see Pantherlily in his warrior form, stepping out of the hut he shares with Gajeel and Levy.

Clare looks up as well, and Lily's jaw drops. She walks over and extends a hand to the warrior. "I'm Clarisse, but you can call me Clare, everyone else does."

Lily frowns and I can see the gears turning in his head. "Weren't you one of Queen Shagotte's royal advisers?"

She shakes her head. "No, sir, that was my mother."

He nods and shakes her hand. "Forgive me, where are my manners. I'm Pantherlily, Gajeel Redfox's personal Exceed, I take it that if you're here, Queen Shagotte has asked you to become a personal Exceed as well?"

She smiles and nods. "Yes, I'm Queen Lucy's personal Exceed, now."

I groan at the title and say loudly enough for her to hear, "Clare, drop the title, just call me Lucy." I walk over and lay a hand on her shoulder.

She turns to me, looking sheepish. "Sorry, Qu-Lucy."

I smile and turn to Lily. "Last I saw, Gajeel was being thrown in the water by Natsu."

He nods. "Thank you, Lucy; I wanted to spar with him, before he got into a fight with you and Natsu."

I raise an eyebrow at his statement but before he can explain, Gajeel jumps the railing to land beside him.

"Come on, Lily, you want a sparring match, you'll get your sparring match."

They walk back down the ramp, and we turn back to the ladies. We talk for a little while longer, until the boys grow tired of throwing each other into the water and Gajeel and Lily return from their sparring match further down the beach.

Then Erza approaches me. "Lucy, care for a fight?"

I frown, unsure of how to answer her. Finally, I shrug. "I guess, I don't see what could go wrong with a simple fight."

I look around the railing and take note of the differing expressions. Gray, and Gajeel look interested, while Mira, Levy, Elfman, Juvia, and Laxus look disbelieving. The only ones that know I can handle a fight against her, and show it, are Wendy, Erza herself, and Natsu who's grinning like a madman.

"Where would you like to spar?"

At her question, I look around, trying to decide, when an idea hits me. Grinning, I jump the railing and let the water catch me before pushing me up to the surface.

I look up to see all of them except Natsu staring at me, wide-eyed. Looking forward, I walk out from underneath the huts and over the open water before dropping my core to freeze the surface of the water.

Once a wide enough area is frozen, I turn to look at Erza with an eyebrow raised. "Shall we spar?"

She closes her mouth and takes on a stern expression before nodding and jumping the railing as well. After she hits the water, she swims over and I give her a hand up before walking to the other side of the ice floe.

When the ice floe moves, I look over to see Natsu standing on the edge.

He grins. "I'll be referee,"

I look at Erza, and when she gives her okay I nod, and he walks to the middle, taking on a serious expression.

"There's only one rule to this match: first one off the ice floe loses." He drops his hand at our nods and moves out of the way, as Erza's quick to change to her heaven's wheel armor and throw a sword.

Locking my legs in position, I cover my face with my arms, and my scales shoot out, causing the sword to bounce off without leaving a scratch.

I peer around my arms to see her staring at me, shocked, and I grin before moving. I slide along the ice quickly until I'm in close enough range before taking a deep breath.

"Celestial Dragon's Bullet Hell Roar!" As I move, flaming rocks about the size of my thumb shoot at Erza, some miss, but most hit their target, pushing the knight to the edge of the ice floe.

She requips, and I have to roll to dodge a spear before making a counter attack. "Water Dragon's Scouring Claw!" The water rocks the ice floe as it rises around the edges, giving me a wider coverage as I hit Erza, and knock her off the ice floe to win the match.

As she swims back to the ice floe, I offer a hand to her and she gratefully takes it, allowing me to pull her up.

"Wow, Lucy, you certainly have gotten stronger, I look forward to what the next month brings."

I smile at her compliment before turning when the ice floe moves to see everyone else climbing up.

They walk over, and I can see the shock and awe they have as they watch me.

"Wow, Lu-chan, when Master said you had gotten stronger, I didn't realize you had gotten strong enough to defeat Erza."

I look at Levy and frown at the look of awe. "Levy-chan, just because I'm stronger doesn't mean I'm any different then when we left."

She nods, but whatever she's about to say next is interrupted when the ice floe dips dangerously, causing us to turn to see Natsu pinning Gajeel down.

I sigh before turning back to Levy. "Why don't we go somewhere else and let the guys have the ice to spar and train?"

She nods, and I walk off the ice onto the water, towards the huts.

"Lucy?"

I turn at the sound of my name to see Mira watching me curiously. "Yeah, Mira?" She looks down and I follow her gaze to my feet.

"Why are you walking on water?" I open my mouth to reply, but Natsu beats me to it, calling out from where his face is now smashed against the ice.

"It's because we mastered water dragon slaying,"

"How many elements do you have at your hands?"

I look back at Levy and count them out in my head before answering her. "Eleven, why?" By now, we've reach the stairs leading up from the water, and Levy runs to reach my side.

"Because I've only seen you use two so far," then another thought seems to cross her mind because she asks, "Can you use Fire and Iron?"

Raising one hand so she can see it, I ignite it before turning it into a club. I look over at her and feel a grin appear at the stars that dance in her eyes.

"Oh, Lu-chan, me and you have a lot to talk about,"

I nod, and we resume making our way up the stairs.

 **~Three Weeks Later~ Natsu P.O.V.**

Opening my eyes, I stretch and feel across the left side of the bed, only to find cold sheets. I turn my head, and my suspicions are confirmed when I don't see Lucy lying in the bed.

I get up and throw on a pair of shorts, ignoring the ripped shreds of what used to be boxers hanging off of the head board.

As I step out the door, I come face to face with Clare in her cat form hovering in the air.

"Ah, Natsu, Lucy just sent me to wake you up, and to tell you to hurry or you're gonna miss the buffet."

Grinning, I reach up and scratch her head. "Thanks, Clare, let me grab a shirt and then I'll be over there."

She nods and flies to Wendy's hut, most likely to retrieve Happy, while I walk back inside and throw on a black tank with gold trim before walking out and shutting the door.

I walk across the bridge to a pavilion, where I can see the others sitting along a table with everything from pancakes to a whole ham is laid out.

Sitting down next to Luce, I take in the fact that Metalhead and Laxus are sitting on my right, with their mates sitting across the table, while Wendy sits on Lucy's left. Though, I don't say anything about it, because what is there to say?

After we eat, we return to our rooms and pack before meeting up at the main hut to check out.

"You know what?"

I turn my head to see Luce staring at the huts and ask, "What?"

She turns to me and smiles. "This would be an amazing place to go for our honeymoon."

I grin. "Yeah, it would be."

Finally the time comes where we're boarding the train for Magnolia and then onto the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

 **If you remember back to when Natsu and Lucy were training with Aqua I had put in some heavy foreshadowing about the GMG, but it's okay if you didn't pick it up right away. But before we move to that matter I have to give major props to _StrikeForceHeroeTeller_ for the celestial spell used in this chapter.**

 **Which BTW, Strike, at the time when I told you a few chapters it was a few chapters. Your comment kind of irked me, but I was telling you the truth.**

 **That's out of the way. I NEED IDEAS for the GMG. Strike's already giving me an awesome idea that I plan to take up an entire day but there's still four others that need to be filled. Before you ask. NO I AM NOT USING ANY FROM THE MANGA! This will be all original, but I want to hear your ideas. So P.M. or review with your ideas.**

 **Now that you've heard from me, I'll let y'all go until next time.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Welcome to 2017! While the new year may bring new fears, let it also bring cheers a plenty. Be it for a major goal you've accomplished or just the fact that you managed to get ahead of your chores for more then a few measly seconds. Trust me, I know how that is.**


	15. Crocus and Competitors

**Hehe, I've always wanted to do a GMG arc and I can't believe we're already on our way! Now Strike and Blue have already given me some awesome ideas that I plan to use for a few chapters but I would like to see some ideas from the other 149 followers. Think y'all can help me out?**

 **Now if y'all have read some of my other stories, then you know that I give credit where credit is due, so please if y'all have any ideas fro the next few chapters I would love to hear them. Be it by P.M. or Reviews.**

 **But enough out of me, go check out what Crocus has to offer and see who some of our team's competitors are.**

* * *

Chapter 15

Crocus and Competitors

 **Normal P.O.V.**

The train pulls into the station and the ground rumbles, causing everyone on the platforms to turn and watch as the guild known as Fairy Tail climbs off the train.

They're so loud and noisy that the people not used to hearing them cover their ears. In the middle of the crowd Natsu, Lucy, and Makarov walk off together. Happy is laying in Natsu's hair while Clare walks behind Lucy in her human form.

"Remember you two, while you're in the arena you are only to use the magic you had before you left."

"Yes, Master."

Makarov disappears into the crowd after Lucy replies, leaving them to themselves as they walk through the streets of Crocus.

"Lucy?"

The blonde turns to her exceed. "What's up, Clare?"

Clare jogs to catch up to her before asking, "What did the short man mean by showing only one magic?"

Natsu snorts and Lucy giggles. "That short man is Master Makarov, and no one besides a few in the guild, at the moment, is supposed to know about us being royalty."

She lights up with understanding. "Oh, and what are your original magics?"

"My original magic is Celestial while Natsu's is Fire Dragon Slaying magic."

Clare nods at Lucy's explanation, then a cloud of smoke over takes her.

When it clears she's back in her cat form, and she flies up so that Lucy can carry her. Natsu sees this and spins on his heel so that he's walking backwards.

"Hey, Clare, how come you change forms at such random times?"

Clare frowns at the question. "I honestly don't know, the transformation can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to all day, but when it goes all day I'm really tired by the time I change back."

Natsu looks thoughtful and Lucy grabs him by the arm to keep him from running into a vendor, causing him to turn back around.

Happy yawns and sits up before suggesting, "Why don't you talk to Lily and Carla about having them help you get it under control?"

Clare is quiet as she thinks it over. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Happy!" The she-cat looks up at Lucy's exclamation and seems to make up her mind.

"Alright, if you think it's a good idea, I'll ask them the next time I see them."

"Natsu! Lucy!"

At the sound of their names the mages stop and look around to see Erza and Gray walking up.

"Hey, Erza, what's up?"

Instead, it's Gray that responds. "Our inn is up ahead, so we figured we'd meet up with you and Flame Brain."

Natsu scowls at the name. "What was that, Ice princess?"

A vein twitches on Gray's forehead. "Nothing to you, lizard skin."

"Emo Ice!"

"Ash for Brains!"

By now they're glaring at each other and bumping heads, causing Lucy to roll her eyes while Erza scowls.

"That's enough! Save it for the arena!" She takes both their heads and slams them together, causing Gray to fall out cold and Natsu to rub his head.

"Geez, Erza, we were just messing around."

Lucy bends down and pulls Gray up with one hand while scowling in exasperation. "Come on, you guys, let's drop our bags off and go explore for a bit. I mean, we don't have to be at the inn until six, right?"

Erza nods. "Yes, this year's rulebook states that we have to return to the inn by 6:00 P.M. for the preliminaries."

Clare jumps out of Lucy's arms, but before she hits the ground her wings appear and she flies over Lucy's shoulder to grab her bag.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go drop the bags off, I've never been to Crocus and I want to see some of it before the Games start."

She goes to take off ahead but Lucy quickly grabs onto her. "Easy, Clare, we still have time, besides the inn is just a couple buildings down so let's walk together."

Her eyes flick between Lucy and to where Natsu is grinning as Happy sits on his head. Finally, she nods. "Alright, if you say so."

Lucy smiles and lets go of the Exceed, allowing her to float up so that the blonde mage's bag is level with her head.

They walk the rest of the way to the inn and check in before returning to the streets.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

"Hey, Luce!"

I look up when Natsu calls my name to see him and Happy playing tug-of-war with a fish.

I frown. "Why are you playing tug-of-war with a fish?"

He growls and yanks the fish out of Happy's hands before sticking his tongue out at the blue Exceed. "He was gonna put it on your head."

Turning to the Exceed, I raise an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "And why were you gonna do that?"

Happy squeezes his nose between his fingers. "You need to smell more like fish, because you stink."

A vein throbs and I scowl. "I'm gonna skin you for that, cat!" I jump, trying to catch him, but he flies out of reach as two familiar scents hit my nose.

I stop jumping and scrunch my nose as I turn to Natsu. "Do you smell that?"

He lifts his nose and takes off around the corner. I look up at Clare as she floats near my shoulder and run after him when I make sure she's following.

Behind me I hear, "Hey, wait for me!" but I ignore it as I run to catch up to where Natsu is standing in front of a blonde guy with ice-blue eyes and a black-haired guy with red eyes.

Natsu turns as I catch up and I see him grinning. "Luce, you remember Sting and Rogue from Sabertooth, right?"

I take a deep breath, and remember why they smell so familiar.

Weisslogia and Skiadrum.

I smile. "Hello,"

Sting grins, and steps forward, grabbing my hand, and placing a gentlemanly kiss on my knuckles.

"Hello, to you too, Lucy. I trust Natsu-kun hasn't driven you insane?"

Looking over, I see Rogue roll his eyes and I pull my hand back. "No more than he typically does, but enough about us, how have you two been?"

I pick up a silent growl from Natsu, but I ignore it as Rogue replies, "We've been training and getting stronger to win the games this year."

Natsu huffs. "As if, Fairy Tail is gonna win it, just as they have for the past three years."

The challenge rings clear in the air and Sting stares at him. "Well, then, we'll just have to see what happens in the arena, now won't we?"

"Lucy?"

I look away from the growling match happening between my boyfriend and Sting to see Clare holding Happy by his tail and trying to pull him away from a cart of fish.

Scowling, I walk over and grab Happy as a poof of smoke appears and Clare changes into her human form.

"Forgive me, Lucy, I know how you feel about Happy going after fish carts."

I smile at my Exceed. "It's alright, Clare, this is always a hazard with him."

She smiles hesitantly and takes Happy in her arms when I hear someone step up behind me.

"I wasn't aware that you had an Exceed, Lucy," Rogue comments, tone curious as he cocks his head slightly to the side at Clare, who raises an eyebrow at him in return.

When I hear a scuffling behind me, I turn my attention to see Natsu holding Sting in a chokehold. I narrow my eyes and stomp over to them, grabbing Natsu by the scarf and pulling his face down to mine, fixing him with a glare. His eyes widen slightly at the look in my eyes.

"What did I tell you about fighting outside of the arena, Natsu?" I demand, raising my eyebrows.

"I know, but— "

"No buts!" I cut him off, pulling him closer so that he can see the sparks in my eyes.

He pouts, but finally gives a nod and lets Sting go.

I release my death hold on Natsu's scarf and gesture with a flick of my wrist. "Now, come on, it's almost three o'clock and we still have a lot of the city to see. Rogue," the Dragon Slayer turns at the sound of my voice. "I apologize for this inconvenience. We will be going now."

He shrugs by way of answer, and I grab Natsu by his muffler, dragging him away before he can get into yet another fight.

When we're a few streets away, I let him go and look around to find Clare catching up, with Happy flying over her head.

I put my hands on my hips and throw my head back.

"Luce, I'm sorry."

I look at him to see him looking at me with a pout. Giving into the puppy dog eyes is much easier then I will ever admit, and I sigh before pinching my nose.

"It's done and over with, let's head to the palace to see the gardens."

Our stomachs growl interrupting my statement and I amend it.

"After we get something to eat."

He nods, and we start walking down the street when Clare pulls on my sleeve. I look at her and she points at a noodle shop.

"Can we go there to eat?"

I look at Natsu with an arched eyebrow and he shrugs. "The food smells good, so I don't see why not."

We walk over and take a seat at one of the tables sitting outside. A waiter comes up not even a minute later and hands us some menus before walking away to get us some drinks.

"Hey, Luce, let's get a bowl to share." he tilts his menu to me and I see him pointing at a bowl of sweet and spicy noodles.

I nod, and when the waiter returns he sets a sweet tea in front of me, a fire whiskey in front of Natsu, a cup of warm milk for Happy and… I stop and take a second look when the waiter sets a glass of orange juice in front of Clare, and she sets a candy cane in it.

He takes our orders, and as we wait I see Clare pull a small book from her bag.

"Whatcha got there, Clare?"

She hands it to me and I read the cover before looking back at her. "Why are you reading a book on cats?"

She looks sheepish as she replies, "I wanted to see what the difference is between the Exceeds and your Earthland variety of felines."

I hand the book back to her. "You know all you have to do is ask, and we'll answer any questions you have."

She nods and we look up when the waiter returns. Or, _waiters_ , I should say, as our waiter and another walk out. Our waiter carries a tray, and sets down a bowl of beef and broccoli noodles in front of Clare, along with a bowl of fish and noodles in front of Happy.

The second waiter walks up and sets our bowl down in front of us. The bowl is a foot wide and about six inches tall. Inside, the broth is swirled in a bright red, or spicy, while the sweet broth is a darker red, almost brown.

The waiters walk away and Natsu hands me some chopsticks before taking a set for himself and digging in. I do as well and before long the bowl is empty and I'm paying the bill.

As we stand I see the waiter staring at us, dumbstruck, when he sees the empty bowl.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

As we walk away from the noodle place, a clock rings, and I look up to see that it says five o'clock.

"Hey, Luce, what time are we supposed to be back at the inn?"

"Six, why?"

I grab her arm, causing her to stop walking and look at me in confusion. Pointing at the clock I ask worriedly, "Don't you think we should be heading back?"

She looks up at the clock and I hear a curse escape her. "I didn't realize it was already so late, let's go."

We take off at a run, but we're all the way across the city and by the time the clock reads 5:50 we're still fifteen minutes out.

We stop running and I look up at Happy. "Luce, we're gonna have to fly if we're gonna make it in time."

She looks at Clare. "Will you be able to fly me to the inn?"

At first the Exceed looks scared, but then her expression hardens and she nods. Her wings appear and she watches as Happy flies behind me, picking me up by the back of my shirt.

Happy lifts me a couple feet off the ground, but hovers until Clare has a good grip on Luce and they start gaining height.

She's a little wobbly at first but as we fly over the city she straightens out. The flight is pretty easy, but when we're a couple blocks from the inn Luce screeches, and I look over to see them falling.

"Lucy!"

Happy goes to fly after her but stops when a blur flies past us and grabs her. We land in front of the inn and I turn to see Clare in her human form gently setting Luce down.

What gets my attention is the fact that Clare has giant white wings sprouting from her back and from the way she acts, turning around and reaching up to the wings, she's shocked too.

"Clare, I thought you couldn't use your aera magic when you're in your human form?"

She let's go of the wing to turn to Luce and frowns. "That's what I thought, too. I think I will have to talk to Pantherlily and see what he says about this."

The clock strikes six and I grab Luce and Clare and push them through the door of the inn to see Erza standing there, scowling at us, with Wendy standing beside her.

"Don't you think you four are cutting it a little close?"

Luce goes from scowling at me to looking at Erza. "Sorry, the time slipped by and before we knew it we had to rush back here."

I lift my nose and frown when I don't pick up a recent scent of ice prick. "Where's Ice Princess at? Shouldn't he be here by now, as well?"

Erza reaches behind her and hands a letter to Luce. I lean over her shoulder and read it as she does.

 _Welcome, contestants, to the Grand Magic Games! For the preliminaries this year we have decided on a hide and seek._

 _The rules are simple. We have hidden one of your teammates somewhere in the city. They are harm-free, rest assured, all you have to do is find them._

 _All magic is allowed, but you may not destroy anything. If you do then your team is disqualified._

 _After you find your teammate show up at the Domus Flau, and the first eight teams to make it qualify to continue on._

 _With that said, we wish you luck, and will see you in the arena._

 _Mato._

I look at Luce and I already know what she's gonna do.

"Luce, he said not to."

She folds the paper and hands it back to Erza before turning to me. "He said not to in the arena, he didn't say anything about the preliminaries. And since Gray isn't here, I know it'll pick him up no problem."

I let out a sharp growl and she snorts before walking to a wall. She touches the wall with her index and I see the six pointed star form under her fingertip. Her hand drops and I watch, somewhat fascinated, as it shoots across the wall before seeming to decide on a direction and taking off.

"Come on, it's already picked him up, he's sitting in the gardens with," she snorts a laugh before finishing her statement, "with Gajeel."

I open the door, but notice Erza isn't coming. Instead, she's just standing there, watching us in confusion.

"Erza, are you coming?" At my question she shakes her head and steps past me, onto the street.

I look at Luce to see her looking at me. "Shadow drive?"

She pauses for a second before nodding, and a second later she's grabbing Erza and Wendy before fading into the shadows.

I kick mine into action and turn back to Clare and Happy. "We'll be back in a little while, see you when we get back."

They nod, and I sink into the ground before taking off after Lucy's shadow.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

In the gardens near the palace, Gray stands, waiting for his teammates to show up, while Gajeel sits eating a ball of metal as big as his fist.

Suddenly, Gajeel freezes and sniffs as two shadows shoot across the grass. One stops underneath Gray causing him to sink into it while the other continues on towards the Domus Flau.

After the second shadow shoots off, Gajeel sits back and a gihi escapes him. "Salamander and Bunny girl are definitely gonna get there first, so then where the hell is my team?!"

Meanwhile, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, and Wendy are shooting towards the Domus Flau so fast that the shadows they're in are more like blurs.

When they reach the top of the mountain, they step out of the shadows and the shadow drives disappear.

They run the rest of the way in and slow when they see the short pumpkin headed man, Mato, standing next to a door.

"Congratulations, Fairy Tail Team A, you are the first ones to make it here, punkin, if you will step through this door, it will take you to the gathering room you will be using during the games. Punkin, after the other seven teams arrive, you will be allowed to return to your inn."

Everyone relaxes and Natsu cheers as Lucy steps through the door first.

* * *

 **So what did y'all think? In my opinion things are just heating up and there's still quite a bit to do. From the way I see it we have like 10 to 12 more chapters to go so lets see how things play out.**

 **Reminder: If you have any ideas, don't be shy and send them my way. I'll take anything you got.**

 **BTW, DKQ has now been favorited 99 times, followed 151 times and... wait for it... Has 47 reviews. Y'ALL ARE FLIPPING, FREAKING AMAZING AND I LOVE Y'ALL WITH ALL MY HEART!**

 **Whooh, now that that's out of my system I would love to give props to my editor. xSteleAliniax. She actually has the patience and the time to go through the clutter and rubble that is my writing and make it shine. But recently she has told me about a friend that she has on here, yellowchikadee, that is starting to get really down because not a lot of people are checking her out. So if you'll do me, Stele, and Chikadee the favor go check her out and tell her that Stele and Grizz sent y'all.**

 **With that said I'll see y'all next Monday, hopefully with over 50 reviews.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	16. Day 1

**So.. did you know that DKQ already has over 13,000 views?**

 **Yeah, shocked the hell out of me too.**

 **I haven't really looked in a while and the last time I checked it had just reached the 10, 000 view mark. So to know that my story is so popular is just mind blowing. Know I have more I want to say but I have to wait for the end of the chapter as I don't wanna spoil so I'll y'all in a bit.**

* * *

Chapter 16

Day 1

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I'm sleeping quite peacefully until an alarm sounds in my ear. Letting out a groan I swing an arm behind me to quiet it and instead hit cold armor.

A growl escapes me as I open my eyes to see Luce standing in the door to the bathroom, brushing her teeth, and an ice prick trying not to laugh from where he sits on his bed.

"Natsu!"

I turn over to see Erza standing at the foot of the bed, her arms crossed and her scowl evident.

"Let's go, we have to be at the arena in an hour."

My eyes go wide at her words and I remember that we did in fact make first place in the preliminaries last night. Just as I'm about to roll over and go back to sleep I feel Erza wrap a hand around my ankle and pull me off the bed.

Scowling, I cross my arms over my chest as I swing upside down. "You gonna let me go?"

A minute later and I'm hitting the floor, head first, as I hear her walk away. "Wendy took the Exceeds to go get breakfast and should be back anytime, so hurry up and get ready."

I stand up and grab my set of clothes that I'm supposed to wear for the games, then walk past Luce into the bathroom.

After I get changed I look in the mirror and an easy grin settles. Don't know how the hell Gramps does the clothes so well, but I gotta say they look good.

The colors are different than the last few years, and this time both sleeves are missing, though it settles on my shoulders without a problem. The cloak I wear is of black with gold around the cuffs and trim, and a gold Fairy Tail insignia is embroidered onto the left sleeve. My pants are black with gold buttons, and my shoes are equally as dark, with gold buckles to hold them in place. The whole look is stylish, yet also has a regal look about it that fits perfectly with our guild's current top-ranking status.

Stepping out, I look up from playing with my cuff to see Wendy and the Exceeds walking in with boxes full of delicious smells.

Luce walks up and takes the box from Clare before digging through it and tossing a smaller box to me. I catch it and sit on the bed before opening it to see a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, toasted to extra crispy and drowned in sriracha sauce.

"Natsu, don't forget, you can't spill anything on the clothes."

I freeze with half my hand under the sandwich and look at Luce, where she sits in the chair next to the table.

"Don't worry, Luce, I got this."

Ice prick snorts and I hear him mutter, "Damn Flame Brain is still gonna make a mess."

I take a bite of my sandwich before retorting, "At least I haven't already lost my outfit, ya damn nude polar bear."

He looks down. "What the hell? It hasn't even been half an hour," then disappears into the bathroom as a knock sounds at the door.

I finish my breakfast and jump up to open the door. Instead of the hallway of our inn, I see the stone walls of the Domus Flau and the opening to the arena.

"Oh, it looks like it's time to go."

I turn my head to see Luce packing up her leftovers and putting them in the mini fridge before walking past me and out the door. Wendy and I follow her steps, and I look back to see Erza dragging Emo Ice as he pulls on his shirt. Almost as soon as they step through the door it swings shut and we look at each other.

The announcer's voice starts ringing through the hall. "And now we get down to the team who made first place in the prelims, the number one guild in Fiore for the last four years, Fairy Tail Team A!"

As we walk down the hall, Luce grabs my hand and I squeeze it before giving her a grin. "Come on, Luce, we got this. Let's show them just how much stronger we've gotten."

She takes a deep breath and lets my hand go as she smiles in return. We turn back to the light at the end of the tunnel and step out. The crowd goes crazy and I see her grimace as she takes in the noise level.

I look up. The stands are packed, many sporting either the Fairy Tail symbol or Sabertooth. The crowd is going wild, and when I look up to our guild balcony I see Gramps standing on the railing with his arms crossed as he watches us.

Lucy taps my arm and I look up to see the other teams watching us, some weary, while others, mainly Sabertooth, are watching us with a challenge in their gaze.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

After my ears get used to the increase in volume, considering the noise almost made me deaf, I look to see Natsu watching the arena intently as we take in the other teams.

There's Team B, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus, Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, then one other I don't recognize. Their emblem is of a black star pointing towards the ground.

After a moment, Mato steps into the arena and the stone with the challenges rises up behind him.

My eyes flick over the stone to see:

 _Day 1: The Windy City_

 _Day 2: ?_

 _Day 3: ?_

 _Day 4: ?_

 _Day 5: ?_

 _Day 6: ?_

 _Day 7: ?_

"The windy city?" I look over to see Wendy gazing at the stone curiously as Mato starts speaking.

"Would the teams please pick two participants then, punkin, head to your balconies?"

I look up to see Erza, Gray, and Natsu watching me. Raising a hand until a finger is pointing at myself, I look at them, silently asking the question I dread.

They nod and I groan before turning to Wendy. "Wendy, looks like me and you are up for this challenge."

She squeaks but Erza and Gray are already disappearing down the hall while Natsu lingers behind, an uncharacteristic frown marring his features.

"Natsu, go, I can handle myself, you know that better than anyone else." I push him towards the tunnel and he picks up his feet until he catches up to the others.

I clear my throat and flatten my skirt, thankful that Master gave me one that reaches mid-thigh, otherwise who knows what Natsu would've done to the gawkers.

Once the other teams have reached their balconies the stone lowers into the ground, and bright green magic circles surround us and the other teams.

The circles start to rise until we're over a hundred feet in the air, then posts shoot up from the ground, stopping so they're level with the circles.

"Now, the rules of this game, ladies and gentlemen, are simple. You and your partner must, punkin, remain on the pillars until the timers up. The team first to fall will receive no points, and every team after that will receive, punkin, two points more than the previous. Meaning that the team that remains, punkin, will earn a whopping sixteen, punkin, points to start the games."

I look over at Mato to see him hovering on his own circle as we're set on the posts. The post I'm standing on can barely fit both my feet and sways dangerously from the strong wind currents, leading me to think that this is why they called it the windy city.

As the clock counts down to the start of the games, my mind flashes back to standing on Igneel's back.

" _Yeah, it took me a while, and plenty of broken tree branches, before I figured it out."_

I look down, and even from where I stand up above I can see Natsu's grin. "Okay, plant your feet but let the rest of your body sway with the wind." I murmur, and slide my feet to edges of the post, allowing me a surprising amount of support."

Then the bell rings.

The first thing I see is a rope flying at me and I react without thinking, immediately jumping to another post while Wendy dives the other way. A wave of water tries to crash into me but I drop back, sliding between two posts, then jumping up to stand behind the man from Lamia Scale, Yuka.

"Open gate of the lion: Leo! Open gate of the twins: Gemini!"

As soon as Loke appears he goes on the attack and successfully knocks Yuka off the post and out of the game, while Gemini transfers into me.

I freeze when I see the black hood with the stars along the back and ask as I dodge the dog man, Toby, "Gemini, when was the last time you copied me?"

"Forgive us, Lucy, but you didn't give us a chance to since you returned from your special training."

I am grateful they didn't outright say 'training with the dragons,' but it stills leaves me disgruntled as I round out a kick, knocking Lamia Scale out of the game for today.

"Lucy!"

I look up at the sound of my name to see Wendy balancing precariously on the edge of a post as she dodges flying pieces of metal from a girl that has white hair with black streaks.

The falling star on her arm tells me all I need to know, but the announcer confirms it.

"And it looks like Trish, from Stele Cad, has Wendy of Fairy Tail on the ropes and out of the challenge!"

I growl and allow lightning to flood my veins, boosting my speed and allowing me to jump across the posts. When I'm close enough, I kill the speed and grab my whip.

With a flick of my wrist, the tip is wrapped around the woman's ankle and I'm throwing her away from Wendy, knocking her out of the game.

Just as Wendy's footing leaves the edge of the post, I grab her wrist and pull her up. "You okay, Wendy?"

She smiles as she jumps to another post. "I am now, thanks, Lucy."

I smile back and turn to Rufus from Sabertooth, who is coming at me with a memory attack. I react purely on instinct and cross my arms over my face, my scales spreading to block any damage.

After the attack ceases, I lower my hands and observe his stance. One foot is folded behind his other knee, reminding me of a flamingo.

I grip the handle of my whip harder and crack it, causing fire to shoot down the length of it as I wrap it around the post he's standing on.

Unfortunately for him, he's too distracted with my whip being on _fire_ that he doesn't see the post burn away until he, too, falls out of the challenge.

Glancing around I see Gemini's version of me dancing back and forth over the posts, helping to confuse the others as Loke jumps back to me.

"Princess, are you sure it was a smart move to ignite your whip?"

I snort at his question and dodge a spray of webs from the Mermaid Heel woman, Arana.

"It's fine, Loke."

Thinking quickly, I remember something we learned from Celeste right before we left, and grin.

"Hey, Loke, ready to do some real damage?"

He stops on one post with one leg held out, trying to catch his balance, and arches an eyebrow at me.

"Only if you're sure you're able to control it this time 'round."

I roll my eyes. "Star dress: Leo!"

My skirt and tank changes to an elegant, frilled black ball gown that is slit up my left leg and tied with a gold sash that sits around my hips. A black, frilled choker sits around my neck, and a ribbon with Loke's mark emblazoned upon it falls between my breasts. The accompanying sleeves of the dress are detached, sitting on my upper arms and falling loosely to my forearms, where they flare outward. Around the bodice of the dress is more golden trim, curving inward under my bust. The whole deal is rounded out with black heels and my hair is now tied up in a quaint bun that is decorated with a black flower, while Loke's zodiac sign appears above my right breast.

I jump forward, careful not to scuff the heels, until I'm standing behind Bacchus. "Regulus Lucy Kick!"

The kick sends him flying but he doesn't fall past the post, instead he just drops his liquor and jabs his hands into the wood, ceasing his fall and hauling him back up.

Once up he turns and glares at me. "What the hell was that for?"

I shrug. "Whoops, accidents happen, but if you would like I could send you down to collect it back."

He throws his hands, palm up behind him, and I allow Loke's star dress to fade. I glance over my shoulder and see him bowing as he disappears.

"Open gate of the sea goat: Capricorn!"

He appears and slides right into fighting position. "Miss Lucy, if I may say, you haven't truly trained in that yet."

I turn my head to him and grin. "Well then, let's see what I can do. Star dress: Capricorn!"

My hair curls up in another bun, with two locks of hair hanging on both sides of my face while shades appear on my nose. The dress is tighter with a slit on both sides, allowing the majority of my thighs, as well as my thigh-high white heels, to show. The sash at my waist is purple and his mark appears on my right thigh. The back of the dress hangs low and quite a bit of skin shows along the sides of my chest.

I tilt my head to the side, pushing my shades into place as an easy grin settles across my face.

"Now then, I would say it's time you join your liquor, don't you?"

He leaps and I duck, dodging his left palm. Standing straight, I retaliate with a swift double jab that leaves him surprised, while Capricorn comes up from behind.

As we fight I can see why Elfman had such trouble with him during the first games. His hits are as solid as concrete, and as quick as lightning.

'Wait, lightning?' I freeze as the thought hits me and only Capricorn prevents Bacchus from knocking me off.

I crack my knuckles and allow lightning to flood my veins again. 'Hehe, I may not be able to show them my lightning but it doesn't mean I can't use it.'

The next time Bacchus comes around for a hit I reach up, grabbing his wrist and slam my knee into his gut.

The blow knocks him back and I let go off his wrist, causing him to fly between the posts and down to the ground.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I growl when I see Luce speed up, knowing exactly what she's doing. Grabbing onto the stone railing, it cracks, and I feel Erza lay a hand on my shoulder.

"Easy, Natsu, she knows what she's doing."

I huff and turn away, walking back into the tunnel where I slide down the wall. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes and tune out the crowd to hear the announcers.

"And Quatro Cerberus is out of the challenge with just two points. I must say, Yajima, it seems like Lucy Heartfilia and Wendy Marvell are on a roll."

"And you'd be correct, Chapati, Not only has Lucy taken out Rufus Lore of Sabertooth, but she has also taken out Trish of Stele Cad, Bacchus Groh of Quatro Cerberus, and Yuka Suzuki and Toby Horhorta of Lamia Scale. But the little sky maiden is right by her partner's side, having taken out Arana Webb and Millianna of Mermaid Heel, Rocker of Quatro Cerberus, and Crystal Shiner of Stele Cad."

"And that just leaves both of Fairy Tail's teams, Jenny Realight and Hibiki Lates of Blue Pegasus, and Minerva Orland of Sabertooth." Chapati replies.

"Well, actually, it looks like Fairy Tail Team B wraps up the challenge with eight points, as Minerva takes them out."

"And you'd be correct, Lahar. Oh my, it looks like Wendy has just taken out Hibiki Lates. This will be an interesting match, to say the least."

"Well, what do we have here, Lucy Heartfilia up against Minerva, just like back in x791."

I tense when I hear Yajima's words and run back to the balcony to see he's speaking the truth.

"Yajima, if I remember correctly, that match didn't end so well for Lucy."

A sigh then, "You'd be correct; Lucy Heartfilia was out for the rest of the games from her injuries, but that doesn't seem to be the case this time 'round. It would seem she's getting in quite a bit of work on Minerva."

My head snaps up and I watch the screen intently as Minerva is looking just as scraped up as Luce is. She stands on the post, panting as her knees shake, causing her star dress to fade.

I know she has magic stored away, blocked by the limiters, but I don't know how to tell her to take them off. That is, until I see her jolt in surprise as she looks at her shoulder.

She removes her limiters and gets back up, and I just know the mark had something to do with.

"LET'S GO, LUCE, YOU GOT THIS!"

She looks up at my yell and I see her flash a fanged grin in my direction before her expression turns serious and she turns back to Minerva.

She tilts her head back and the zodiacs on her arms light up as I hear her start the incantation.

" _Oh, stars far and wide that embody the heavens,_

 _by thy radiance reveal thy form to me_

 _I implore Tetrabiblos,_

 _eternal ruler of the stars above,_

 _let your unrestrained rage flow_

 _I ask that you lend your power to me…_

 _Open!_

 _The raging tumultuous gate!_

 _With all eighty-eight heavenly bodies…_

 _Shining!_

 _Urano Metria!_ "

The posts around her shatter, scattering shards and sending Minerva to the ground as Wendy stands out of the way, having finished her fight already.

"And there you have it, folks! Fairy Tail wins the first day of the games with a fantastic display of resilience and strength!"

The cheers are loud enough to force me to cover my ears as Luce and Wendy are lowered to the ground, while the posts disappear.

Then the scores are posted on the Lacrima visions for all to see.

 _Fairy Tail Team A—16_

 _Sabertooth— 12_

 _Blue Pegasus— 10_

 _Fairy Tail Team B—8_

 _Stele Cad—6_

 _Mermaid Heel—4_

 _Quatro Cerberus—2_

 _Lamia Scale—0_

After Luce disappears down the tunnel, I take off down the one connecting to our balcony and catch up to her just as she's walking into the infirmary.

I hug her and she let's out a slight whimper, causing me to take a step back and take in how banged up she really is.

Her clothes are torn, one eyes is already turning black and I swear she has at least one broken rib. "Luce—"

"Natsu, you know why I did it."

I growl, and her gaze snaps to mine as she leans back, allowing Wendy to deal with the worst of her injuries.

"Natsu Dragneel, don't growl at me. You know very well why I did it."

I throw my hands in the air in frustration. "Lucy, you had to take off your limiters in order to deal with Minerva after you took out five opponents by yourself. You had Wendy there to help you for a reason!"

Wendy backs up and Lucy stands, placing her hands on her hips. "Natsu, I can handle myself in a fight, which I just did! And, as you so clearly pointed out, I took out six opponents BY MYSELF!"

I scowl. "Why are you so stubborn?"

She growls. "Because I can take care of myself, and I don't need you hovering like a Nagging Nanny!"

I freeze and my eyes narrow. "Fine, you don't want me 'hovering,' then I'm gone." and I walk out, slamming the door behind me.

My ears note the sudden silence that's coming from the guild as they stand in the hall, but I ignore them as I walk down the tunnels of the arena.

* * *

 **And there you have it folks. NaLu's first real argument in this story. I surprised myself when I realized this fact. I mean besides their sparring matches they haven't gotten into any real arguments where one of them storms out.**

 **But I wanna hear what you think. And make sure you leave those reviews, especially since I know y'all are gonna be heated with how I left the chapter.**

 **Have I mentioned I'm evil?**

 **No, seriously, ask Stele. I am evil AF when it comes to certain points in my stories.**

 **Anyway back to the games. What did y'all think of Day 1? It was an idea I had that I think turned out hella awesome. As for the challenge itself. Has anyone seen Avatar: The last airbender? Yeah, I got the idea from the first season where they visit the air temple.**

 **Also if anyone is confused on anything or has any ideas, leave me a review or P.M. I'm always there to help you understand the story.**

 **Now I can't think of anything else atm that pertains to this story, but there is a new story that I started dropping. It's called 'The Shifter's Journey' It's an OC story based on a shifter that is the last of her kind. I'm trying out a new writing style so those chapters are quite a bit shorter, but I hope you'll check it out.**

 **I drop that one every Wednesday.**

 **With that said.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	17. Day 2 Part 1

**Alright y'all here's part of the second day of the games. In last chapter Natsu and Lucy had their first big fight as a couple which *pats self on back* is something I don't do enough in my stories.**

 **But what can I say? NaLu is too good to be fighting.**

 **I know y'all are probably wondering when they'll get over it. I'm not telling.**

 **Now the reason why this chapter is labeled 'Part 1' is because the fights I have written and have planned would make the chapter too long so you get two part chapters. There is another reason for it being so long but I'm sure y'all will figure it out as you read this chapter. With that I give you a solid hello and welcome to the second day of the games.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

Day 2 Part 1

 **Normal P.O.V.**

In a clearing in the woods near Crocus a wall of ice and fire stands. One unmelting, the other pulsing as if it is breathing while behind the walls Natsu stands. His eyes are closed, his breathing even, his hands are placed palm to palm, one set of fingers pointing down and the other pointing up.

Taking slow, deep breaths he pulls his hands apart and a ball of bright white light appears. As he holds it there, his arms starting to shake from the effort, and when a twig snaps from the other side of the walls he slams his palms together, causing the light to run up his arms and disappear as he turns his head to focus on the approaching footsteps.

"I'm telling you, Erza, this is not normal for even those two to fight like that. Flame brain never storms out and avoids a fight."

Natsu snorts, a flame escaping him as he does, and drops his core temperature, causing the ground around him to freeze solid.

"I see your point, Gray, but it would be best just to leave him be. You saw how mad Lucy was, it's not a good idea to put those two together at this point in time."

The other partners of 'Team Natsu' approach the walls and Gray turns to Erza. "I'm not planning on doing that."

Erza looks on in confusion as Gray takes a step back and places one hand in the other chanting, "Ice make: Ladder!"

The ice ladder clings to the wall and Gray climbs quickly, leaving Erza to walk back to the city.

At the top of the wall Gray crouches and frowns when he sees Natsu standing in the middle of the clearing, glaring at him.

"I'm not apologizing to her, Ice Prick."

He jumps down and puts his hands in his pockets. "And why do you think I'm here about that, lizard skin?"

Natsu scowls and taps an ear. "Dragon hearing. Now, leave me be."

"Natsu, look…"

"No, Gray, leave me alone." His words are a growl as he turns away, but Gray hears them and smirks when an idea hits him.

With his back to the ice mage, Natsu doesn't see the ball of ice until it hits him in the back of his head and he rounds on his frenemy.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Because you're being an even bigger flame brain than usual. So what if Lucy acted the way she did out there? You know better then anyone, including me and Erza, that she can handle herself." Gray's words are quiet but they strike a chord in the slayer and he sits on the ground with his head in his hands.

"Gray, you don't understand."

The ice mage moves until he's sitting down in front of Natsu and frowns in confusion.

"What don't I understand?"

Natsu sighs. "She's my mate, Gray, I'm instinctively hardwired to want to protect her, and the soul bond doesn't make it any easier. I can feel everything she feels. I know she's pissed at me."

"So, what are you gonna do about it?"

He shrugs. "Probably wait until after the games tomorrow and try to talk to her. Give her time to calm down and hopefully I can come up with something that doesn't have me being frozen in a block of ice or paralyzed or poisoned or drowned in my sleep or…"

Gray cuts him off. "Okay, I get it, you need to come up with something that doesn't have her killing you before you can get her to forgive you."

Natsu nods and looks up to see Gray watching him intently. "What are you planning, ice prick?"

Gray smirks.

By the time the mages return to their inn it's past midnight and almost every house is dark, while lacrimas hang from lampposts twenty feet apart, dimly lighting the way.

They walk in the door, closing it quietly behind them in the hopes that they will not awake the fairy queen, but sadly, luck is not on their side this night.

"Where have you two been?"

Both men turn on their heels to see Erza scowling at them from where she stands on the steps leading to the second floor.

Gray shivers at the sight of her but Natsu takes a step forward. "Ice Prick and I were settling some business, now if you'll excuse me, I would like to go to bed."

Erza looks at him with both eyebrows raised in shock but steps out of the way, allowing him to walk up the steps, and only when she hears the door shut does she turn to Gray.

"Well?"

Gray grins. "It should be settled after the games tomorrow but Flame brain is right, for once, it's late and we should get some sleep since we don't know what's in store."

She nods and they turn and walk up the steps as well.

The next morning the teams gather on their balconies, the crowds settle into their seats and the guilds claim their boxes, ready for the second day of the games to begin.

On their balcony Natsu stands on one side of the railing, with Gray on his right, seeming to be discussing something, while on the other side Lucy is chatting with Wendy.

Just as Erza exits the tunnel to stand in between her teammates, Chapati starts.

"Hello, and good morning on this bright day. Our guest spectator today is the master of the Quatro Cerberus guild, Master Goldmine."

"Yeah, this day is gonna be…" The Master is silent as the box with the rest of the guild and their team yells out, "WILD!"

"Um, yes it certainly will be. Now, Yajima, what is it that we have planned for Day Two of the games?"

Yajima shrugs then states, "Let's see what the mascot and referee, Mato has to say on what today will bring."

Mato walks out into the middle of the field as the rock rises and he turns his back to it as the day two marker changes.

 _Day 1: The Windy City_

 _Day 2: One on One Battles_

 _Day 3: ?_

 _Day 4: ?_

 _Day 5: ?_

 _Day 6: ?_

 _Day 7: ?_

"Day two is about the battles. All battles are one on one, punkin, and will last an hour. Winner gains ten points, loser gains none, and a draw scores five, punkin, points for each team. First battle up is, punkin, Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail Team A versus Beth Vanderwood of Mermaid Heel, punkin."

Up in the balcony Gray rubs a hand down his face as he turns to the tunnel. Lucy yells out, "Good luck, Gray!" but scowls when she locks eyes with Natsu and turns back to the field.

When Gray and Beth get onto the field it glows bright yellow and when it fades an outline of a sparring circle can be seen while Mato stands in the middle.

"Now, folks, that magic circle you see there is for your protection. It prevents any flying debris from landing in the stands." Chapati's words ring loud and clear up any and all confusion as Mato raises his hand above his head.

Three loud bells ring, then two, then one and then Mato drops his hand before darting off the field as Beth makes her first attack.

"Carrot missiles!"

Gray ducks and dodges the flying carrots while losing his over coat, and shirt in the process leaving him in just his pants with the silver pendant hanging from his neck.

When the carrots are gone he grins and slams one hand in the other as black markings spread from his arm up to his shoulder and eventually stop when they cover half his face.

"Ice make: Demon's Revenge!"

Ice forms on his hands spinning outward and forming into two large discs about a foot and a half in diameter. The edges are thin but sharp while in the middle an oval shaped hole sits at about an inch thick.

Gray grabs the discs by placing his hands through the holes and spins around before letting it go, then repeats the process with the other. They fly at Beth and she ducks, the discs flying by harmlessly and she gets up, smirking at the ice mage.

"Is that all you got?"

Unknown to her, however, is the fact that where the discs hit the ground ice spreads out, covering the ground, and before she knows what's happening the ice has encased her feet.

Her smirk turns to shock and she tries to pull her feet out as Gray walks up.

"I'm just getting warmed up." He pulls one arm back level to his face while he holds the other straight out. "Ice make: Three shot shard!"

Three arrows of ice form along with a bow and he fires them at Beth and she reacts quickly. "Celery Shields!"

Two tall shields made of celery shoot up from the ground in front of her and when the arrows hit them gigantic pillars of ice shoot up, exploding the protective vegetables and knocking Beth down.

The exploding ice shards hit the barrier and stop mid air then fall to the ground, creating a building wall of debris, this fact going unnoticed by the spectators and the battling mages.

Beth gets back up, looking livid as she does, and she places both hands on the icy ground. "Broccoli forest!"

Broccoli shoots up from the ground, surrounding Gray and blocking his view of everything but the green vegetable.

He scowls. "Ice make: Scythe!" The weapon forms quickly and he starts chopping down the forest until he catches sight of Beth running by.

Then the scythe disappears and he slams a fist down on his opposite outstretched hand. "Ice make: Floor!"

Ice covers the ground and when Beth sets her foot down she slips, falling into one of her vegetable trees.

Thirty seconds later when she doesn't get up Mato appears in the middle of the field. "Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail Team A wins the match!"

The crowd goes wild and the field clears away the damage, and Gray and Beth return to their balconies as Chapati continues his announcements.

"Well, that certainly was a show, don't you think, Master Goldmine?"

"And you'd be correct, Chapati, Fullbuster showed an excellent display of ice make magic while Vanderwood displayed a well-thought-out defence."

"Yes, an excellent display that adds ten points to Fairy Tail Team A's sixteen point lead from yesterday's challenge win."

"It looks like Mato is ready to call out the next battle, let's see what the game managers have planned for this battle." This coming from Yajima as Mato walks back into the field.

Mato clears his throat. "The next battle will be between Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth and Yuka Suzuki of Lamia Scale."

The announcer's all watch in surprise as the two walk onto the field and Chapati turns to Yajima.

"Now, isn't Orga a lightning god slayer and Yuka a wave mage, Yajima?"

Yajima nods. "Yes, which means that either this match will be a one-sided matter or a drawn-out fight that ends in a draw. It all depends on how Mr. Suzuki reacts to Mr. Nanagear's strong and swift blows."

On the field, Yuka stands with his hands behind his back, a confident smirk in place, while Orga stands on the opposite side of the field looking bored as they wait for Mato to start the match.

The countdown bells toll, his hand drops, and he darts off in enough time to dodge a lightning strike from Orga that has Yuka dodging as well, the surprise of the quick attack showing in his bushy eyebrowed face.

When Orga jumps forward Yuka throws up his hand and a wall of blue energy appears, stopping an incoming lightning attack in it's place, and shocking Orga when he, too, is stopped by the barrier.

He backs up and frowns then collects his hands in front of him. "120 mm Black Lightning Cannon!"

The attack strikes the barrier but dissipates and Yuka smirks. "Attacks are useless against my wave magic." Then he waves his hand in front of him, pushing the barrier out and slamming into Orga.

Orga gets back to his feet and moves, throwing Yuka off, and before he knows what's happening he's being thrown across the field.

"Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon!"

Orga's attack hits Yuka spot on, knocking him unconscious and Mato steps onto the field. "Yuka Suzuki is out, punkin, meaning Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth wins the match."

"And there goes the second match of the day, finished within the fifteen minute mark, as Orga works around Yuka's defence. Goldmine, any words on the match?"

"Nothing much to be said, Chapati, Orga was wild, but it is to be expected from the guild that's always giving Fairy Tail a run for it's money."

Over in Fairy Tail's box an evil aura can be seen coming from Makarov, causing the others to step away as he stands up and shouts at the announcer's box.

"Goldmine, shut yer yap before I come up there and shut it for you!"

The master of Quatro Cerberus arches an eyebrow and everyone watches in fascination as Macao and Wakaba clamp a hand over Makarov's mouth and pull him away from the balcony.

"Well, it seems like you and Fairy Tail's master will have some things to discuss, if you want to push his buttons."

Goldmine chuckles at Chapati's words. "That's just Makarov being Makarov, you just gotta know the right buttons to push."

"Goldmine, if you're finished pushing Makey's buttons, it looks like Mato is ready with the next battle."

True to his word, Mato stands in the middle of the field. "The next match is between, punkin, Hibiki Lates of Blue Pegasus and Semmes of Quatro Cerberus."

"Now, if you're looking for a wild guild, Chapati, the boys of Quatro Cerberus are wild, and they put up a good show."

"You're certainly confident in your guild, Goldmine, but don't forget, Blue Pegasus isn't to be taken so lightly."

Over in the Quatro Cerberus balcony Bacchus turns to his team. "Boys, what are we?"

"We're wild!" The cry doesn't just come from his teammates, it also comes from the guild box, causing Goldmine to look smug as he leans back in his chair.

"Yeah, we're gonna win this match."

Down on the field Hibiki's sweating bullets as he dodges attack after attack from the spinning mage.

"What's the matter? You starting to get dizzy from all my spinning?"

The question causes the archive mage to stop in his tracks and an idea takes him. He grins and waits until Semmes comes closer then he jumps up landing to stand on his shoulders.

"You may be able to spin, but let's see how you do when your head is over filled with nonsense information."

Hibiki pulls up his archive magic and a sign appears over Semmes' head that says 'downloading.'

The sign repeats several times, each time causing the spinning mage to slow down until he's holding his head.

"Where is all this coming from? I don't think about any of this!"

Finally, his eyes roll to the back of head and he falls forward, causing Hibiki to jump off. "And that is what I call an information overload. It's a bitch to handle."

Up in the booth, Goldmine stares slack-jawed at the scene and Yajima clears his throat. "What was that about your boys being wild?"

Goldmine grumbles and Chapati moves the conversation onward. "And Quatro Cerberus loses the match, meaning Blue Pegasus gains ten points."

Mato steps back onto the field drawing everyone's attention. "The next battle before we take a break will be Crystal Gesshoku of Stele Cad versus Juvia Lockser of Fairy Tail Team B."

"Yajima, isn't Stele Cad a new guild only recently added to the roster?"

"Yes, they are, Chapati, but from what I saw yesterday, during the challenge, that guild is not one to be looked down upon. They can hold their own, certainly well enough to have placed fourth at the end of the day."

"Hmm, I guess you're right, what's your opinion, Goldmine?"

"Stele Cad is gonna be hard pressed to catch up, but if they show the amount of strength that was showed yesterday, then they will do well."

As the opponents step onto the field, everyone's attention is drawn to Crystal, because by her side walks a wolf as tall at the shoulder as her, and on her shoulder stands a bird with dark red feathers and a beak sharp enough to cut stone.

The crowd is silent as they watch her walk across the field to take her spot across from Juvia, the wolf sitting at her heels.

When the bell tolls and Mato clears the field the women watch each other, trying to figure out who makes the first move until Juvia moves first.

"Water Slicer!"

Crystal ducks out of the way while the wolf stands still and when she looks back she sees the bird that was on her shoulder smashed to pieces where her feet stood.

She grins. "I was hoping you would do that, my pretty hasn't been able to fly for too long."

She stands and holds her hand out, her fingers moving in a certain formation, causing the shards to rise. Grinning, she turns her hand over, causing the shards to reform and soon five miniature versions of the bird float mid air.

"Now, my pretties, why don't you thank the lovely mage who set you free?"

The miniatures squawk as one and take off through the air towards Juvia. Juvia stands there when they swoop in and they fly through her. Her skin rippling with her water form.

Crystal sees this and frowns, then she whistles and looks at the wolf as it stands. "Beautiful, please use your attack."

The wolf snarls and jumps forward, causing Juvia to react quickly. "Water lock!"

The attack surrounds the wolf and holds it above the ground, but Crystal grins. "You shouldn't have done that."

Juvia frowns and her expression turns to horror as she watches the wolf grow bigger while the water lock disappears, having been absorbed by the wolf.

"What is that thing?"

Crystal tilts her head in confusion and looks at the wolf. "Oh, you mean Beautiful?"

Juvia nods and Crystal smiles wickedly. "See, Beautiful is made out of a certain mud enchanted to grow when she absorbs liquids. It's a pain when it rains because I can't take her out, but in a fight it works in my favor as it boosts her attacks."

Then she whistles again, causing the mud-wolf to look at her. "Please, continue with your task, Beautiful, while I gather my pretties."

The wolf steps forward and opening it's jaws, breathes fire on the water mage, causing Juvia to duck and dodge as Crystal holds her hand in front of her, her ice blue eyes glowing to an almost white blue as the birds lift off from the ground behind Juvia and fly back to their owner.

When the birds hover over her hand, her eyes darkening as she states, "Regroup and lift."

The birds reform and soon the original sized bird is looping around and lifting Crystal by the back of her shirt up and over the water mage.

Meanwhile, up in the Fairy Tail box a certain seith mage is leaning on the railing beside Makarov while his mask is removed.

"Master, she's a soul user alright, she only has the two, but they are extremely strong."

Makarov nods. "I thought so, with how she commands them, but it shouldn't be anything Juvia can't handle. What happens to the figures if Juvia defeats her?"

Bickslow shrugs and sticks his tongue out. "Anything can happen, it depends on how she treats the souls. If she treats them nicely, which from the looks of it she does, then they'll most likely resort to a neutral state and wait for her next command."

The master doesn't take his eyes off the fight as he pushes. "But…"

"But if she doesn't treat them right, then they turn on her and rip her limb from limb before leaving the figurines and traveling to the afterlife."

This time Makarov does tear his eyes away from the fight to look at Bickslow. "Why so gruesome?"

He waves a hand at where Juvia dodges the wolf's paw. "They're animal souls, not human souls. Animals act on instinct, but their souls, if abused, lash out at the cause of their pain when they get the chance. Though, like I said, I doubt that'll happen because of how she's treated them so far in the fight."

Makarov nods and they look back when Mato announces, "Crystal Gesshoku is out, ten points to Fairy Tail Team B."

Sure enough, Juvia stands in the middle of the field, panting heavily, while the bird lies in smithereens off to one side and the wolf has shrunk back to it's original size and lying down where it stood when Juvia beat Crystal.

Then the announcers catch up. "Well, that certainly was a fight to watch, but now we'll be taking a short break before the afternoon battles start."

* * *

 **So what did y'all think of the fights? I had a lot of fun figuring out who to pitch against whom, and whose gonna win each match. And trust me when I say that we have a lot of battles coming up ahead. And I do mean we still have tag battles, we have more one on one battles, then there's the small battles during the challenges. Oh, y'all are in for a real treat over these next few weeks.**

 **I'm still looking for ideas for challenges so if y'all have anything let me know, be it reviews or P.M. I can use all the help I can get. Um, I can't really think of anything else, it's really early here so my brain is still working through the fog of the morning to put this out, so I guess I'll let y'all go until Wednesday when I upload the next chapter of Shifter.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. I'm an idiot. My college classes start tomorrow, and are every Tuesday and Thursday so they won't be interfering with the uploading of DKQ but for those of you who read Crews. You can be rest assured you will still get your chapters, though they may not be out as early as they typically are.**

 **And Blue, glad to see you're back, I thought you had been busy.**


	18. Day 2 Part 2

**Hey y'all! Can you believe it's already been a week since I updated? You probably can since you're getting ready to read the next chapter. XD.** **But anyway I'm gonna let y'all go to read the chapter the chapter and I will see y'all at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 18

Day 2 Part 2

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

After Chapati calls an hour break before the afternoon battles, Ice prick grabs me by my arm and pulls me down the tunnels.

"Where are we going?"

He stops at my question and runs a hand through his hair as Jellal, Metalhead, and Elfman walk up. I watch them in confusion as they pass a few words then the next thing I know Jellal and Elfman are guiding me out of the Domus Flau. This time when we stop I dig my heels into the pave stones as they try to pull me along again.

"Alright, that's enough, where are we going and why are you being so secretive?" I ask, my voice deadly serious as I cross my arms over my chest.

"Well sense you and Lucy aren't speaking to each other we're gonna change that fact, and to do that we need to go to a tailor."

A shiver of dread runs up my spine at his words and I start backing away only to run into a wall of Elfman.

"Natsu, it's not manly to run from your problems."

I growl at his words and turn on him. "I don't need help with this, this argument between me and her."

They share a look and nod, then turn back to me. "We weren't gonna tell you this, but Cana set up a bet that's running for over three million jewel at the moment for how long it takes for you two to make up. If you two make up by tomorrow morning the guys win and we split the jewel evenly between Gray, Gajeel, Laxus, Makarov, him," points at Elfman, "myself and you."

Running a hand down my face I weigh my options. Option A) Go with them, get Lucy back and get some of the betting money, or Option B) Don't go with them, get dragged there anyway, get Lucy, and don't get any of the betting money.

Option B sounds better but I have been wanting to get Lucy a ring so I choose Option A and nod, allowing them to pull me a couple blocks down the street from the arena.

Twenty minutes later, I stand on a short stool while the tailor takes measurements and writes them down.

"Hey, Jellal, how much longer until we gotta be back up there?"

Jellal looks at the clock behind me and frowns. "We have to be back up there in half an hour."

I groan hoping that it would be closer than that but thankfully the tailor stands up and writes something in his pad.

"I'm done with the measurements so you're free to go, but make sure you come back right after this day's games are over for the fitting."

Jellal frowns. "What colors did my friend pick out?"

The tailor looks down at his pad and taps it with his pencil. "She said black pants and overcoat, with a burgundy shirt and gold trimming, oh and no tie."

He nods and looks over to where Elfman and I stand by the door, ready to get the hell out of there. "Thank you, for doing this on such short notice, and we will be back after the day's battles are over."

The tailor nods absentmindedly and waves a hand at him as he turns, chewing on the tip of his pencil.

Jellal walks toward us and we get behind him, pushing him out the door. When we reach the bottom of the mountain the Domus Flau sits on I scowl. "Jellal, I swear, if we're late for this I'm knocking your ass out and hanging you in the rafters when we get back to the guild."

He nods and we take off up the steps, and when we finally get to the tunnels I see Ice prick and Metalhead standing there waiting for us.

"Come on, the girls have already gotten back and are sitting in the balconies while Gramps is about to have another heart attack."

I run down the hall with Ice prick while Jellal and Elfman turn down another with Metalhead. Then we're stepping out onto the balcony and the announcers start.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Up in the announcer's booth Chapati sits in his chair, clears his throat, and turns to Yajima.

"Now that everyone's had a break, why don't we bring up the scores so far to remind us where we left off, don't you think, Yajima?"

The retired council member nods. "I agree, let's find out what the standings are."

In front of the spectator seats lacrima screens come up displaying the scores as they stand at this point in time.

 _Fairy Tail Team A—26_

 _Sabertooth—22_

 _Blue Pegasus—20_

 _Fairy Tail Team B—18_

 _Stele Cad—6_

 _Mermaid Heel—4_

 _Quatro Cerberus—2_

 _Lamia Scale—0_

"In the first battle, Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail Team A defeated Beth Vanderwood of Mermaid Heel in a spectacular display of quick thinking and even better control of his ice maker magic leaving Fairy Tail A at twenty-six points early in the game. Then, in the second battle, Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth defeated Yuka Suzuki of Lamia Scale swiftly and efficiently, leaving Lamia Scale at the bottom of the ladder with zero points while Sabertooth rides on the Fairy's tail, pun intended, with twenty-two points."

Then Yajima picks up the summary. "In the third battle of the morning Hibiki Lates of Blue Pegasus showed that brains are better than brawns, bringing down Semmes of Quatro Cerberus and adding ten points to their score, raising them to an even twenty points. Goldmine, mind filling them in on the final battle of the morning?"

Goldmine clears his throat. "In a wild, and amazing display of ingenuity and creativity Juvia Lockser of Fairy Tail B brought down the animal seith of Stele Cad, leaving the newcomer guild with six measly points, while Fairy Tail B rides just two points less than Blue Pegasus with eighteen points."

"And now let's see if the afternoon battles will be just as crazy as this morning, let the battles begin!" At Chapati's words, Mato walks to the middle of the field.

He clears his throat. "The first of the afternoon battles, punkin, will be between Minerva Orland of Sabertooth and Warcry of Quatro Cerberus."

Soon enough, both mages are stepping out onto the field, Minerva looking bored and slightly agitated, while Warcry puffs out his chest, trying to make himself look larger and more intimidating.

Mato raises his hand and the bell counts down: three strikes, two strikes, one strike, and Mato's hand falls, even as his feet take him out of the danger zone. Minerva watches the Cerberus mage in boredom as his eyes start to water and he starts crying fountains of tears.

A few minutes later his attack is charged and he chants, "Tears of Despair!" The tears that he cried rise and fly at Minerva but she rolls her eyes, and snapping her fingers trades places with the tear mage, causing him to take his attack and fly through the wall of the arena.

The spectators stare in awe at the hole where Warcry disappeared even as Mato declares Minerva the winner.

Up in the announcer's booth Goldmine stares slack-jawed at how easily Minerva defeated a member of his guild, while Yajima nods, having already expected this outcome. Then Chapati clears his throat and proceeds.

"Well, that fight certainly was short, don't you agree, Yajima?"

"I would have to say so, seeing as it was over in the first five minutes, but it was also expected."

Goldmine gets over his shock and turns to the ex-council member. "What do you mean by that, Yajima?"

Yajima waves a hand, gesturing to where several employees of the games are working on pulling Warcry from the wall.

"Because, every time he's put up against someone from Sabertooth, he loses. There was Orga Nanagear in x791, Sting Eucliffe in x792, Rogue Cheney defeated him last year, and now Minerva. Why, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he went up against Rufus Lore next year."

"Yes, maybe it would be best if the game managers paired him up with someone other than Sabertooth next year, but let's focus on this year as it seems Mato is ready with the next battle."

Mato stands in the middle of the field, the hole in the wall having been fixed, and when Chapati stops speaking he clears his throat.

"The next match will be Wendy Marvell of Fairy Tail Team A versus Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus."

Wendy gulps from where she stands on the balcony and looks up when Natsu lays a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Wendy, you got this. Just remember what we showed you."

She nods and as she turns away Lucy glares at Natsu. "Don't you mean what _I_ showed her?"

Natsu meets her glare evenly. "No, it's what _we_ showed her."

Lucy huffs. "You didn't show her anything, all you did was fight with the guys the entire time."

He growls, but before he can retort Erza is pushing him back to the other side of the balcony.

"That is enough, Wendy's match is about to begin."

They look down in enough time to see Mato run off the field. Meanwhile, on the field, Eve smiles and Wendy stands on edge.

"It's a shame we need the points, I could never fight someone as pretty as you." He steps back and jumps, spinning his arms around him as he chants. "Snow Storm!"

Wendy covers her face with her arms as the snow storm builds, the winds and the snow pushing her back, until she's against the wall.

"Snow Blades!"

At the sound of the next spell she reacts by holding her arms out to her sides and chanting, "Lle Amor, Lle Vernier, Lle arms."

When Eve's attack lands she doesn't even notice it because of the armor boost and she grins then takes a deep breath.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!"

The breath attack blows away the snow storm and all the snow on the ground, revealing Eve standing on the opposite side of the arena, watching her in shock. Using his distraction, she runs forward and he quickly starts throwing attacks at her. She dodges them, and when one lands too close for comfort she activates her next spell.

"Sky Dragon's Jet Stream!"

Her pace picks up until she's running so fast that her feet are a blur and she ends up behind Eve.

When he realizes this he turns around and sees her jumping up. "Sky Dragon's Iron Wing Attack!"

The attack hits him head on and blows him across the field as she lands lightly on her feet and prepares for her finishing move.

Her feet are spread wide and her hands are held out at her sides, causing a wind barrier to from around her and Eve.

Her hands move in a counterclockwise turn as she chants, "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill!"

He goes flying when the attack hits it's mark and when he doesn't get up right away Wendy runs up to him as Mato declares her the winner.

"I am so sorry."

He sits up and gives her an easy smile. "It's alright, you're a mighty opponent and I can see why the master of your guild put you on the team."

Then he stands up and holds out a hand. "If it's alright with you, I wouldn't mind sparring with you some other time."

She smiles and shakes his hand. "That is a nice offer, but I don't think the other slayers would allow you to live long if I accepted."

He tilts his head in confusion and she points up to the balconies where a dark aura emanates from Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus. He follows her gaze and quickly yanks his hand back when he sees their murderous gazes, causing her to giggle.

"Yeah, anyway I have to go, but it was nice fighting you." She turns as she says this and disappears down the tunnel, leaving Eve to walk down the tunnel to his balcony as Mato walks to the middle of the arena.

"The third battle of the afternoon will be, punkin, between Millianna of Mermaid Heel and Toby Horhorta of Lamia Scale."

On the Mermaid Heel balcony Millianna squeals and runs down the tunnel, her friend's cheers following her, while on Lamia Scale's balcony Toby let's out a howl.

"That cat is going down."

Lyon lays a hand on his shoulder. "Go show them what you're made of, Toby, score us some points."

Instead of going down the tunnel Toby jumps the balcony, landing face first and jumping back up as his teammates sweatdrop.

"Maybe, you should've been a little more clear with your instructions, Lyon." The ice mage turns to Yuka and shrugs.

"What's done is done, we need him to win so we can get some points on the board today."

They turn their attention back to the field where Toby stands beneath their balcony, unable to keep his feet still.

On the other side of the field Millianna is unable to keep still herself, her tail whips back and forth and her bell tinkles as she turns her head. She narrows her eyes at Toby and hisses.

"You're going down, dog-boy!"

Toby snorts. "Yeah right, I'm skinning me a cat today."

Mato ducks out the way when the bell rings and they leap at each other, falling into a rolling ball of cat and dog.

Hisses and barks can be heard, then they fall away and Millianna jumps to her feet. "Nekōsoku Tube!"

The ropes shoot from her hands and attempt to wrap around Toby but he jumps back and dodges them.

"Very funny, cat, but dogs don't do ropes."

She recalls the ropes and watches as purple claws extend from his fingers. She grins and flexes her hands, causing her gloves to fall apart and long black claws are seen on her fingers.

"Well then, let's see who does better in a scratching fight."

He runs at her and she jumps dodging his low swipe then swings back and catches the side of his face as her feet hit the ground. She runs forward and starts slicing at his back and he rolls forward to get away from her sharp claws. He stands, facing her, and the gears turn as he plans.

Then he grins and taunts. "What's the matter? The poor kitty having a hard time taking down a dog like me?"

Her tail whips around behind her faster in a show of her agitation and she jumps without a second thought. He steps to the side and slides his claws down her side, paralyzing her. Up on the Lamia Scale balcony they watch in wonder as their teammate wins the match, while on the Mermaid Heel balcony they can't believe their beloved Millianna has lost.

At least they can't believe it until Mato steps out onto the field. "Millianna of Mermaid Heel is down, Toby Horhorta wins the match and ten points for Lamia scale."

"Well, that was a knock down, drag out fight of cats versus dogs if I've ever seen one, don't you agree, Yajima?"

"Yes, that was a very real dog and cat fight that ended in an upstart for the Lamia Scale team."

"Chapati, Yajima, before we get into talking about that fight don't forget we still have one more battle."

They look at the guild master in surprise and he scowls. "Before we can discuss the points and the standards for the day let's see what the last battle entails, don't you agree?"

Chapati coughs. "Yes, we agree, it's over to Mato with the last battle."

Mato nods from where he stands on the field. "The final battle of the day will be between Jellal Fernandez of Fairy Tail Team B and Yogan Kibō of Stele Cad."

On the balcony of Stele Cad a sharp inhale is heard from a figure in a black cloak, her face is hidden in the shadows of the hood but the tips of her hair that hang out are colored bright red.

She looks back when a hand rests on her shoulder to see a figure in a cloak similar to hers giving her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, sister, you got this."

She nods and walks down the tunnel, the cheers from the crowds echoing in the darkness until she reaches the opening to the field. She hesitates in the shadow of the arch and looks across the field where Jellal stands, watching her intently. Taking a deep breath she steps out and stands across from him, Mato in the middle with his arm raised.

The bell tolls and his arm drops as he flees the field, leaving the mages to stare at each other. Then Jellal does something that shocks her. He holds his arms out, completely open to an attack, but she recovers quickly and takes her chance.

"Summer's Flaming Trail!"

She throws her arm out and a line of flames shoots across the field at Jellal. Just as it seems that it's gonna hit him he dodges the attack. He smirks and places his arms together, his left index and middle finger pointing up and the fingers of his right hand are splayed out, palm up.

"Grand Chariot!"

Her eyes go wide when she sees the seven magic circles appear above her and when the first magic circle releases a beam of light she jumps out of the way, pieces of dirt and rock ripping her cloak as the ground explodes from each blast.

Getting up, her hand goes to the clasp at her neck, a small flame colored in red, orange, and yellow.

"Yogan, do it!"

Her gaze snaps to her balcony and she sees her brother giving her the thumbs up. She nods and twisting the clasp she pulls the cloak off, revealing a deep red dress with two slits along the front for better movement while the back is low cut, more red fabric billows between her shoulder blades from the breeze. On her feet a set of slippers colored like flames cause almost no dust to lift.

She takes a deep breath and the fabric billowing between her shoulder blades become lit with flames and spring out to reveal two sets of wings. The first set rises up and above her shoulders while the second set is smaller and points down to the ground.

Her wings start flapping until she's several feet in the air and she holds her hands out. "I call upon the elemental spirits, lend me your strength. Purgatory Rains!"

The sky instantly clouds over and balls of molten lava and flaming rocks fall like rain upon the arena. The attack only lasts a few seconds, though, and when it clears Jellal stills stands, barely harmed, as he warily watches the fire wielder.

She settles to the ground, frowning at the sight of him still standing but has no time to react when he disappears in a flash of bright golden light. Before she knows what's happening she's getting hit everywhere all at once.

Eventually she can take no more, the spell having taken most of her energy and the relentless attacks from Jellal too much for her to handle. When she falls to her knees, then the ground, Jellal ceases his meteor attack and Mato runs up to see if she is able to go on. Seeing that she cannot he turns to the stands. "Yogan Kibō of Stele Cad is down for the count, Jellal Fernandez of Fairy Tail Team B wins the match."

Meanwhile in the announcer's booth. "That was some fancy work from the newcomers, don't you think, Goldmine?"

"I would have to agree with you, Chapati, that was certainly a wild battle and most certainly one of the more destructive to the field, by the looks of all the craters."

"Hm, yes, there are quite a few craters, but what else can be expected of a Fairy Tail mage?" Yajima says after a minute.

"Speaking of Fairy Tail, that was our last battle of the day, so let's see how the score racks up at the end of Day Two."

The lacrimas go out for a second, then the scores come up.

 _Fairy Tail Team A—36_

 _Sabertooth—32_

 _Fairy Tail Team B—28_

 _Blue Pegasus—20_

 _Lamia Scale—10_

 _Stele Cad—6_

 _Mermaid Heel—4_

 _Quatro Cerberus—2_

"Right, Fairy Tail A still holds first place, Sabertooth still stands on the Fairy's Tail, then Blue Pegasus has dropped, allowing Fairy Tail B to bite the tiger's tail. Meanwhile, Lamia Scale has risen from last place, leaving Stele Cad in sixth place with six points, Mermaid Heel in seventh with four points and Quatro Cerberus sits dead last with two points. But it's still too early in the game to see who's gonna win, so with that, this is Chapati Lola, Yajima, and Master Goldmine of Quatro Cerberus signing off."

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Almost as soon as the scores come up on the screen Erza's dragging Luce off somewhere and Jellal and Ice prick are pulling me in the opposite direction.

We enter the shop and the tailor brings the suit out to show us, and while I admit it does look nice, I don't want to wear it. So I turn and go to walk out only for Jellal and Ice prick to push me back.

"Oh, no you don't, Flame Brain, you're wearing the suit and you're gonna fix this shit with Lucy."

I growl and they push me back toward the tailor then stand in front of the door, looking more like security guards then best friends.

"Natsu, just please try on the suit."

I huff at Jellal's request but turn and taking the proffered suit from the tailor, walk behind the divider.

"You're gonna pay for this, you know that?" I hear them laugh at my threat and scowl as I walk out, because the tight fabric is not something I'm used to.

While, yes, we wore different clothes while training and even now I prefer sleeves to cover up the zodiacs, I don't like wearing tight fitting clothes. I don't like the collar of my shirt sitting around my neck, and I don't like that I can't swing my arms without having to readjust the coat. Though, as I stand on the stool, I can't complain about the pants. They're not too high, they don't drag, and they're not too tight as I turn to look in the mirror.

"Is that to your liking, Mr. Dragneel?"

I look at the tailor where he stands off to the side with a set of glasses perched on top of his graying hair and a rope ruler slung around his neck, and grin.

"Yeah, this works, thank you, Mr…" I stop, realizing I don't know his name, and he smiles.

"Shitateya, Joey Shitateya."

Grinning, I step down and shake his hand. "Well, thank you Mr. Shitateya, for doing this on such short notice."

He waves a hand in dismissal. "Please, think nothing of it. This is my way of repaying you after you saved my shop from that dragon."

I arch in eyebrow in surprise and he nods. "I almost lost my shop to it, but you turned it away before it could burn it down."

"Natsu, we gotta go!"

Turning, I wave at the tailor then run after Jellal and Ice prick only to see them waiting just outside the door where they start pushing me down the street.

"What was he talking about?"

"Thanking us for saving his shop from Atlas Flame when the gate opened. Where are you dickheads pulling me…?" The question dies in my throat when we stop in front of a flower shop and I see Levy standing outside of it, holding a bouquet of red roses.

She hands the bouquet to Jellal and waves a hand down the street. "Go, Erza's already waiting."

Then I'm being pushed down the street and around a corner until we see Erza standing outside a restaurant. Dread crawls up and down my spine when I realize what's going on, but just as I turn to make a run for it Erza grabs me by the back of my collar.

"No, Natsu, you're not running from her. You're gonna make up or else I'm tying you up in a train car until it rides back through Magnolia."

I laugh and shake my head even as my feet can't reach the ground. "You forget, Erza, I don't have motion sickness anymore."

She scowls and sets me down only to hold a short sword at my neck. "You will go in there and make up with her or I will make your life hell."

Again, the fear that I should feel never appears, and I shake my head as I hold a hand out for the roses, seeing as it's my only way out of this situation. When the stems are laid in my hand I walk past the assholes that are my friends and through the door of the restaurant.

I look around, and soon enough I catch sight of Mira and Cana sitting in a booth in the corner. In front of them I see a head of blonde facing away from me. Swallowing nervously I walk forward, holding the roses in front of me as a peace sign, if not that then a three second delay for me to get out of there before she blows the place up. Either way is entirely possible right now.

As I walk closer I hear her conversation with Mira and Cana.

"I still don't know why you wanted me to come here."

"Look, Lucy, I don't wanna be here just as much as you don't but Mira promised me a year's supply of free sake if I helped her get you down here."

I smirk, knowing that's not the real reason Cana's here. The damn drunkard has three million jewel riding on the line, of course she's gonna be here to make sure it goes through.

"Lucy, you'll find out soon enough why you're here, just stay put a little longer." As Mira says this I see her looking at me and I gulp at the devil shining in her ice blue eyes.

She looks back at Cana who just now notices me and innocently states, "Cana, I just remembered that we have to go do something for Master."

Cana nods and as they slide out of the booth, I see Cana wink as she passes by me.

For some reason my feet become glued to the floor and I can't move. How the hell am I so afraid of my own mate? I can stare Erza down without flinching, I can make Gajeel bow in submission, and yet I can't even find it in myself to gather her attention.

"I know you're there." It's a simple statement but it causes me to flinch as I finally force my feet to move so that I'm in her line of sight.

She takes a sip of the red wine in front of her and gestures to where Mira and Cana were sitting across from her.

"You may as well take a seat since they probably won't let us leave right away."

Sitting down, I manage not to flinch under her gaze as I lay the bouquet on the table and look at the glass her hand rests on.

 _Get it together, Natsu, she's your mate. Not a damn monster._ I take a deep breath and match her heated gaze, degree for degree.

Without even having to use my chaos magic I can tell her resolve is starting to crumble and she's having trouble keeping up the pissed off mask.

"Luce…" The whisper of her name is the straw that breaks the camel's back and she tears her gaze away to watch her hands in her lap instead.

"You don't know how bad it hurts. You still treat me like I'm porcelain, like I didn't go through the same training as you, like I didn't fight the same battles as you did. Like I'm not the other in this damn prophecy." Her voice is quiet and I have to focus to hear her but when I do I slide around the booth so that I'm sitting next to her and I pull her in for a hug.

I kiss her forehead before murmuring against her skin, "I'm sorry, Luce, you don't know how sorry I am, but I can't help what my instincts push me to do. I know you're stronger then you look, I know you can handle yourself in a fight better than most, but I can't help the fact that I want to keep you out of harm's way all the time. Tell you what,"

She leans back, a frown marring her goddess like features. "What?"

I point at myself. "I won't be such a 'Nagging Nanny' if," I point at her, "you don't pull any more stunts like you did with Minerva."

She giggles and nods. "Okay, I agree to your terms on one condition," I arch an eyebrow and she loses her smile. "Can you forgive me for calling you that? I was so mad that it just kind of slipped out."

We sit for a little while longer until the waiter comes up and offers us menus. All through dinner we forget about the possibility of our nosy guild listening to our conversation, we forget about the games. We only notice each other and the good time we're having.

Until it comes to dessert.

The waiter sets a bowl of strawberry ice cream in front of her and a plate of spicy fudge in front of me. The restaurant is the only one in Crocus that serves this type of fudge so I can understand why our friends chose this place.

She reaches across and snatches a piece from my plate so, smirking, I reach across and taking a dab of ice cream and smear it on her nose. Her eyes cross, trying to see it, and I can't help but laugh as she wipes it off.

Someone clears their throat and we look up to see the waiter standing there with the black folder that has the bill.

"Sorry for interrupting you, but I'd thought you'd like to know that your bill has already been paid."

Luce and I share a look and she nods. "Thank you, sir." He nods and walks away as we go back to our desserts.

"So, who do you think paid it?"

I swallow the last bit of my fudge and shrug. "Most likely it was either the guys, Mira, or the girls."

She nods and I turn my head, looking out the front windows to see everyone peeping through the windows.

I grimace and turn back to her. "Looks like we either find another way out of here or we face a hundred million questions as soon as we walk out the front door."

I hear her hum and then I see her grin as she points to the hall leading to the kitchens and the restrooms.

"Go to the restrooms and slip out the windows, then meet back up in the gardens near the castle."

After I nod she slips away first and five minutes later I walk down the hall and slide in the men's room. Across the room the window isn't very big but the crack in it is big enough for me to slip through as a shadow and I race away into the night, leaving our friends behind and spending the night with the love of my life.

* * *

 **So first off, can I say that I hate having NaLu fight. I mean, it's good to have it in sometimes because like many of you have mentioned. No relationship is perfect and there will be fighting.**

 **But come on, it's NaLu. Nuff said.**

 **Onto other important business.**

 **So you know how I've been asking for ideas for challenges for the chapters? I wanna thank everyone who has given me ideas, and to let y'all know I've decided on which will be turned into challenges. The next one to be revealed in Day 3, but that's about as much of a hint as you'll see about it from me. And I know Stele will never tell so you're just gonna have to wait to find out.**

 **Also, did you know that it takes a lot of planning for a full 7 days of activities? There's the pairings, the matches themselves. Getting the names of everyone on the teams, learning their magic, researching spells, who the guest announcers are, keeping track of points, deciding who wins where and when, oh and lets not forget about being fair to who gains points.**

 **I think that between Stele and I, we've dedicated at least a good 24 hrs total into working on the outline before I even get started on the next chapter. Like I said it takes a lot of work to end up with the chapters you see but I have to say that it's worth it, when I get to see your reviews, and see how you react to the chapters.**

 **I know this A/N is running a bit long compared to what I normally write but y'all readers are important to me, so I feel you deserve to hear that. Any way, I have stories to write so I'm gonna let y'all go. Don't forget to follow, fave, and review, so you know when I add a new chapter or story.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Yeah, I got nothing. XD**


	19. Day 3

**Hey y'all I'm sorry this is coming out a couple hours later then usual, but I kinda slept in late today. Yeah, let's just say staying up until 4 in the morning is not productive to my schedule, but fear not it was a one time thing and will not happen again.**

 **Anyway, if I remember correctly last chapter thanks to the help of some of their guild mates Natsu and Lucy got over their argument and had a nice little dinner date. But now it's time to move onto Day 3 of the games, so go read to find out what's in store next for our lovely couple and their guild.**

 **NEW NOTE: THIS HAS BEEN REVISED! As of 2/13/2017.**

* * *

Chapter 19

Day 3

Lucy P.O.V.

As we walk down the tunnels I stretch my arms behind me, my joints popping as I do, and groan when I let them fall to my sides.

"What do you think it's gonna be today?"

I look up at where Natsu walks next to me and shrug. "It could be anything, you know as well as I do that it's never the same."

An uncharacteristic frown appears on his face and we look up when we hear footsteps to see Wendy coming up. "Lucy, Natsu, we have to go. They're about to start."

We follow her the remainder of the way to our balcony where we can see the spectator seats are already filled and the other teams steadily filing into their balconies.

"It's about time you two got here,"

I look over to see Gray leaning against the wall, scowling as he glares at Natsu. Just as I'm about to reply Chapati cuts in and we turn to look at the stone in the middle of the field.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the third day of the games. Today, as always, we have Yajima with us, but for today our guest announcer is Jason from Sorcerer Weekly. Now, Jason, have you anything to say?"

"Besides the fact that's it's so coool that you invited me back here as a guest announcer, the fights yesterday were so amazingly coool but I'm excited to see what today will bring."

"And with that let's see what the mascot and referee, Mato, has in store for us today."

Even as we watch, the words on the stone blur, and a few seconds later today's event is revealed.

Day 1: The Windy City

Day 2: One on One Battles

Day 3: Dark Labyrinth

Day 4: ?

Day 5: ?

Day 6: ?

Day 7: ?

Normal P.O.V.

"Today's challenge is 'Dark Labyrinth'. Please, punkin, pick two teammates to participate." At Mato's announcement Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Wendy look at Erza to see what she thinks and she turns to the men.

"Natsu, Gray, you're up."

Lucy pales significantly and clears her throat, gathering the requip mage's attention. "Erza, are you sure it's a good idea to send them in together?"

She nods and turns back to the men, fixing them with a solid glare. "You two will behave or so help me, not even your magic will save you."

Gray visibly trembles as he raises his hand to salute and squeaks out an 'Aye, Sir!' before darting down the tunnel. Natsu snorts and fixes Erza with an equally steely gaze. "Relax, Erza, we ain't gonna lose."

He winks at Lucy and turns down the tunnel, picking up pace until he's walking next to his frenemy, the exit to the arena still a couple turns away. After a minute of the only sound being their footsteps echoing off the tunnel walls Natsu asks quietly, "Did we get the money?"

Gray smirks. "Not only did we get the three million jewel, but because of what we all added to it, it came up to almost ten million jewel total."

Natsu nods and when they turn the last corner the cheers of the crowd becomes audible.

"Hey, ice prick,"

Natsu stops twenty-feet in the shadows of the exit and Gray turns to him with an eyebrow arched.

"You tell anyone about helping me get Luce back and I'll turn you into a burning ice statue."

Gray shrugs and turns away. "What are friends for?"

The words are barely whispered but Natsu picks them up well enough as he steps into the light. His eyes quickly adjust and he looks around the arena he takes in the sight of the other team's picked members. Meanwhile, up in the announcer's booth, Jason is having a fit as Chapati announces the teams.

"Well, this is bound to be an interesting day. We'll start at the bottom of ladder here. From Quatro Cerberus we have Jäger and Semmes, Risley Law and Beth Vanderwood from Mermaid Heel, Mizu and Yogan Kibō of Stele Cad, Lyon Vastia and Chelia Blendy of Lamia Scale, Ren Akatsuki and Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus, the lovely Mirajane Strauss and Laxus Dreyar of Fairy Tail Team B, Sting Eucliffe and Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth, and to round it out we have Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail Team A."

"This is gonna be such a cool, cool, coooool challenge, Chapati."

The announcer turns to the over enthusiastic reporter and arches an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Jason jumps up and down in his seat as he points to where Natsu and Gray stand apart, looking different directions. "Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster can't get along for more than a few seconds before falling into one of their infamous brawls, known to sometimes even destroy the Fairy Tail guild hall with how destructive they are."

Yajima nods. "Ahh yes, if I remember correctly Mr. Dragneel is a fire dragon slayer whereas Mr. Fullbuster is an ice make mage. As we all know, fire and ice don't get along."

Down on the field, while the mages eyes are turned to their opponents, their ears are tuned into the announcer's conversation, plans taking form to take out the A-Team and hopefully get a jump on the scoreboard. That is, until the ground starts shaking and they turn their full attention to where a golden outline appears in the dirt.

The outline starts to rise, creating a building with eight similar doors, each door facing one of the teams while Mato stands on the flat roof.

"The rules for this challenge are simple. In the labyrinth sits five flags with your guild symbol. Each flag you find is, punkin, three points added to your score. Same rule applies as the first day, depending on when you come up you may end up with one point extra or eight. It's called the dark labyrinth for a reason. When you do find all five you will be returned to your starting positions."

Then he raises his hand and the signature bell tolls, once, twice, then thrice before he drops it, allowing the mages to enter the passages.

Natsu P.O.V.

As we enter the tunnel I remember the tunnel down to Acnologia's cavern and I smirk as we're plunged into total darkness.

I stop when I hear ice prick stop and wait for him to make a move. Thankfully, I can see in the dark, because I watch him walk forward again and trips on a rock and I can't stop my laughter.

"Shut up, Flame Brain, not everyone has dragon sight. Can you give me some light or are you just gonna stand there and let Laxus win?"

I roll my eyes at his challenge but light my hand anyway, the blue flames giving off a pretty cool glow against the red rock.

He catches up to me and we turn to see two passage ways ahead of us. "Alright, so which one do we go down?"

My ears catch scuffling down the one on the left and I grin. "The easier question is how many opponents can I take down before you, emo ice?"

Moving away I jog down the tunnel, him on my heels, until we come to an open cavern. On the other side I don't like what I see so I let my fist go out.

"Fire Dragon's Flaming Barricade!" My hand hits the ground hard enough to leave an impression as a wall of fire spreads out lighting up the entire cavern.

I hear a girly scream and look over to see ice princess putting out a small fire on his pants leg. "Damn you, ash for brains, give a warning next time."

"Shut up, Stripper, and look ahead."

His retort dies before he opens his mouth as he sees what I saw earlier. A large pit of scorpions surrounds an island that has a red and gold flag bearing the guild emblem.

"They couldn't make it easy, could they?"

I scowl at his question and a bad feeling takes root in my gut.

"Actually, I think this is gonna be the easiest one we have to face." He arches an eyebrow and I walk toward the pit of scorpions, the wall of fire being able to sustain itself for an hour without me.

"Flame Brain, you never think."

A vein throbs on my forehead and I lower my core temperature so I don't lose my cool before I can burn the scorpions and grab the flag.

"Whatever, nude polar bear, at least I haven't lost my shirt yet."

Out of the corner of my eye I see him look down. "Damn it, I thought Gramps had these enchanted to stop that."

This time I snicker and he glares at me. "What the hell did you do, lizard skin?"

I shrug and he scowls as my flames cover me from head to foot and I jump into the pit. The exoskeleton thingamabobbers popping like popcorn from my fire. The stone island rises just above my waist so it's easy for me to grab the flag and jump out of the pit, all the scorpions having already been burned.

"Alright, if you think it's gonna get tougher, then do you have a plan?"

This time I grin as I shove the flag in my pocket. "Easy, we charge ahead and see what happens."

He sweatdrops and I turn away starting down another tunnel. I snap my fingers and the flame wall disappears while my fist ignites again and I hear ice prick run to catch up.

The light bounces off the walls of the tunnels, and besides the echo of our footsteps and the sound of our breathing it's quiet. Until I hear shuffling ahead, then I can hear muttered words. As we get closer to the source of the words I let my flames die down to a low burn. Bright enough for ice prick to not trip over his feet, but not to let anyone ahead of us know we're there.

Finally, the tunnel opens up into another cavern, this one dimly lit by a cluster of green gems growing from a single stalactite in the middle of the ceiling. The gravity of the area immediately wants to drag me to my knees but I fight it as I leave the tunnel, my flames going out completely.

We stop, the gravity not being the only reason.

"What the hell?"

I look over at Gray and grin. "Well, we were looking for a fight."

He nods and we jump into the middle of the fight, him going for Lyon and Chelia while I'm aiming for the team from Mermaid Heel, specifically the gravity mage.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

She jumps, dodging the hit and I fall to my knees when my body becomes too heavy to hold me up.

"Haha, hey Beth, I guess even fairies can fall."

I smirk when I see the women come in range, then look up and my smirk turns to a grin. "A fairy can fall, but a mermaid can't stand the heat."

They look at me in confusion and jump back when I cover myself in flames, the heat alone enough to melt the rock around me. Almost immediately I feel the gravity return to normal, the gravity mage having lost her concentration when she jumped away from the heat. Using her distraction I launch myself out of the crater I melted.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

Just as my attack is about to land a wall of green rises in front of her and explodes when I hit it instead. My nose crinkles when I breathe in the scent of burned vegetables and I duck in time to dodge flying carrots.

Right, this is that vegetable mage emo ice went up against yesterday.

The ground under me rumbles and I jump out of the way just as another green wall shoots up where I was standing. When the chance comes I move closer to the gravity mage and just as I expected another wall of vegetables rises under my feet. I jump back and throw my arm behind me, my flames gathering into my hand.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

I aim for the bottom of the wall and the blast causes the wall to fall over, trapping the gravity mage under it. Then I take a deep breath and pull my hands in front of me.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The entire cavern glows blue from my flames and I hold the spell for only a few moments more before letting it go and taking in the scene. The vegetable mage still stands but she looks like charcoal, her hair looks like a bush, and she's coughing smoke as she pulls her teammate up.

A piece of ice splatters across the floor next to my foot and I turn to see the stripper having trouble keeping up with Lyon and Chelia, and I watch the fight for a second before jumping into the middle of it, melting the eagle as it flies too close to my head.

"What the fuck, Flame Brain? This is my fight."

I snort, a small blue flame coming to life for a second. "Take care of her, I got this ice freak. In case you've forgotten, we still have three more flags to grab after this one."

He scowls but turns and starts attacking Chelia. I turn up the heat, causing Lyon's attacks to melt when they come within ten feet of me.

"Ice Make: Water Serpent!"

The column of ice spirals above him then dives at me. My fist lights up, the heat ramping with the spell and I grin.

"Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist!"

My fist hits the serpent on the nose and ice explodes around me, the shards melting from the high temperatures. When the serpent's gone I take note of the look of shock Lyon wears and cackle.

"H-How did you melt my ice serpent?"

I frown in confusion and shrug. "It's ice, fire melts ice."

He sweatdrops and I take the chance to act quickly, landing a regular upper cut that knocks him back and into the wall, a nice sized whole being his resting place.

"Oi, Flame Brain, there's the flag!"

Turning around I follow his gaze and see the flag and pedestal rising from the ground. I run for it and when I grab it, the ground shakes and another tunnel opens, leading presumably to the other flags.

I hear Chelia squeak, looking up in enough time to see her slide across the ice covered floor and into the wall next to Lyon.

As he skates by me to the tunnel I snort, but skate along behind him. When we reach the tunnel I take the lead and it's not long before we come to another fork in the road.

Tilting my head, I frown when I don't hear anything that gives an idea of which tunnel to take. Until the air current changes. Coming from the left tunnel I smell salt water, not something commonly found underground, so I turn down that way, my curiosity getting the best of me.

The subtle smell of salt and brine becomes stronger as we walk and it's only fifteen minutes before we're stepping out into the next cavern. Even with my ability to see in the dark, the sound of water slapping against rock and the black space confuses me. Then I remember the lake of stars and grin, understanding what I'm seeing.

I turn my head and can make out a box hanging on the wall of the cavern. I walk up to it and scrunch my nose when the foul odor of fish oil hits me. Following a hunch I light my index and stick it into the oil in the box, the oil ignites almost immediately and a line of flames shoots off down the wall. The blue flames light up the cavern as they follow the trough and come to a stop on the other side of the entrance to the tunnel.

In the light of the flames I can tell that the cavern is a hundred yards long and thirty-yards wide, with majority of it being water. Besides the stone platform we're standing on and the platform I can make out of the other side in front of the other tunnel, there's nothing solid enough to stand on. In other words, we're in for a swim.

Gray walks to the edge to freeze the water so we can walk across and something flashing in the water has me pushing him back into the tunnel as a mouth full of teeth rises out of the water, snaps once, and slides back into the depths.

This time as I watch the water I see the flicker of silver from the skins and I easily count at least ten fins as they break the surface of the water.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were right, Flame Brain."

I turn back to Gray to see him watching the water where the shark would've pulled him under if I hadn't pushed him back.

"Ice princess,"

He doesn't immediately reply to the nickname so I snap my fingers in front of his face until he snaps out of it and turns to me.

"Focus, we need to figure out how to get from here to there," I point at the tunnel on the opposite side of the water, "without getting a limb torn off."

He nods and we both look back at the water when a loud splash is heard to see a dorsal fin at least three-feet tall rise from the water. The fin reminds me of the megalodons from our time with Aqua and a crazy, idiotic idea starts to take form.

Taking a deep breath I turn back to him. "When I say so, freeze the water and run."

He looks at me like I'm crazy but I ignore it as I pull my limiters off and shove them in my pocket so I don't lose them. I turn around and walk close enough to the edge to look down and I gulp when I see a fifteen-foot monster lazily swim by.

"Natsu!"

I hear him running to catch me but it's too late, I'm already in the water and gathering my senses. My lungs stop burning and I know right away my magic's kicked in when I feel the water respond to my every move.

The fifteen footer from earlier spins on it's tail and charges at me, but I'm ready.

"Lightning Fire Dragon Mode!"

Remembering Gramp's words I use the mode to cover my lightning magic as I throw a punch at the shark, the water helping to push it back. I see more start to swim at me, their white teeth gaining my attention as I boost the lightning in the water, trying to fry them.

First thing I notice about the sharks is that lightning doesn't hurt them, only stuns them, the second thing is that it pisses them off. Actually, being pissed off would be better than what they are.

One comes snapping at me and I grab it's jaws with both hands, trying to keep it from taking my head off, when I feel the temperature of the water drop dramatically.

Using the water to propel me I swing the shark around and watch it fly out of the water where it smacks into the wall, then turn my attention to the ice overhead. With only a few moments before the next one attacks I swim to the surface to see ice prick slowly freezing the water as he makes his way to the opposite door. I growl, sinking back below the surface and kick off to catch up to him grabbing a five footer by it's tail and throwing it behind me as I swim.

A flash of white gathers my attention, even more then the silver gathering around me and I dive down, avoiding the teeth and grabbing hold of the great white's dorsal fin as it torpedoes to the surface and the stripper.

The shark breaches the water, myself still clinging to it's fin, while smoke trails from my mouth. I swing my fist around, pushing the shark's head away from emo ice and glare at him.

"Stripper, get your shit together and get over there already!"

He scowls but I miss his retort as we hit the water again, the force of the water hitting me forces me to let go of the giant's fin and I turn to see three ten footers coming at me.

I throw my arms out straight at my sides and slowly start spinning, the spins picking up speed until a whirlpool of water surrounds me.

"Water Dragon's Wave Attack!"

The whirlpool that was surrounding me separates into several large waves, washing the three sharks in front of me and any others around me away.

When I see no sharks near me or any more silver flashes I swim to the surface and hoist myself up onto the path of ice. While I put my limiters back on my wrists I look at the cavern. Along the walls I can see several different sized holes from where the sharks I threw landed, and in one I can make out the tail of one that was unfortunate enough to get stuck.

I turn back to the tunnel we came out of and freeze when something breaks the surface of the water, slowly growing larger as it makes it's way toward us. Dread crawls up my spine and my blood goes as cold as Ice Territory in the winter.

"Ice dick, how far are you from the tunnel?" I don't bother to turn my eyes from the fin as I ask the question, but I hear the confusion in his response.

"Ten or fifteen yards, why?"

I look down in the water and see the tip of the megalodon's nose about the same distance from me.

"Because, you're putting that ice on full blast and we're getting out of here, now."

This time I turn on my heel and skate across the ice, my knees bent for balance and one arm in front of me and behind me as I quickly catch up to the stripper as he works to finish laying the path.

I hear a sharp crack and rumbling from behind us and turn to see the mega- shark's head rising out of the water. It pulls the dead shark out of the hole in the wall, then snaps the fifteen-foot carcass down whole. The shark's body is so large that the dorsal fin has broken up the path, and as it settles back into the water it's tail comes up to demolish a twenty-foot section of the path.

It's eye, the size of my outstretched hand, meets mine and I feel another shiver of dread crawl up my spine at the look of malice and hunger it holds.

"Stripper, how much further?" My question comes out an octave higher than it should but at this point I don't care. The only thing that keeps bouncing around in my head is the warning Aqua gave us about how the megalodons rule Water Territory at night, to the point where hatchlings aren't allowed to leave the dens after sunset or they risk being eaten.

"Almost there, ten feet."

The waves left in the wake of the beast grow bigger, and as I turn I sprint down the ice and push the stripper further on. "It's good enough, we're gonna have to jump."

He turns to glare at me but his eyes go wide when he sees the the shark behind me and next thing I know he's already ahead of me and making the leap to land on the stone inside the tunnel.

The edge of the ice comes up quickly and I jump, aware of the breath of rotten fish only a few feet behind me.

Time seems to both slow down and speed up while I'm in the air. The edge of the stone slowly approaches while the edge of the ice quickly recedes. Then there's the fact that there are razor sharp teeth the size of my head only a foot and a half behind me, ready to make this slayer disappear from the world.

Fortunately though, the stone rolls under my feet and when I touch the ground I end up rolling down the tunnel in a heap while the tunnel shakes and shutters around us.

I sit up, shaking my head to clear the ringing from my ears and look up to see the strangest sight I hope to never see again.

A tunnel of light-pink-almost-white flesh big enough for me to walk through without hitting my head stares back at me. On each side four large column like structures stand, while water pours through them and down a black hole large enough for me to crawl through sits all the way at the back. Around the tongue and the back of the teeth I can make out pieces of flesh from the shark's last meal.

"Natsu, the flag!"

The tunnel shakes again and a groan comes from the shark as I look from Gray and back to the shark and see the red and gold object hanging in the middle of the beast's throat. I freeze and look back at ice prick, an eyebrow arched, as I pick up the bitter scent of fear coming off of him.

"Are you afraid of sharks?"

He looks at me, then the shark, and back at me, his expression somewhere between fear and anger. "No, I'm not afraid of sharks, just the ones that have lots of teeth and their mouths are big enough to swallow both of us whole."

Amusement and frustration wars in me when his voice rises an octave as the beast shakes the tunnel and I shake my head as I turn back to it, my mind turning with half-assed strategies.

Cracking reaches my ears and I look down to see the tips of the shark's teeth breaking through the floor, and remember that time is not on our side with this challenge.

My feet start moving before I know what I'm doing and then I'm jumping the teeth and running into the shark's mouth, wary of the nonstop movement of it's mouth as it tries to get free.

I grab the flag when it's in reach and turn to run back as a large piece of the stone breaks off and rolls toward me. I jump the stone and pick up my pace until I'm jumping back into the tunnel, and just in time too.

Just as I land the tunnel shakes extra hard, causing me to fall to my knees and I look back to see the shark's jaws closing, a large bite mark left in the stone as it sinks back into the water.

Something bugs me about how the shark just turns away so instead of listening to reason and walking down the tunnel I watch the fin as it slices through the water toward the other tunnel then turns around. The waves in it's wake surge up the walls, causing the flames to sputter and my eyes bug when I realize what it's doing.

This time I listen to reason and turn, pushing ice prick down the tunnel as the shark barrels through the cavern and slams into the tunnel. The ground shakes so bad from the collision that it knocks us off our feet.

Ice prick jumps up after the shocks fade and runs farther into the tunnel and I look back to see the shark coming around for another hit. I get up and grin when an idea, and a rock from the ceiling, hits me.

"Fire Dragon King's Roar!"

Instead of trying to hit the shark I aim for the entrance of the tunnel, and slowly move my aim, so that the flames follow, the stone glowing from the heat. The stone gets so hot that it starts to drip and I keep up the spell until the opening is closed off and the rumbling from the shark smacking the wall is muted to almost nonexistent.

The ground shakes again and I bend my knees to stay balanced until the shock dies down, then walk over to where ice princess is watching the wall behind me with a frown.

"What exactly was that?"

I arch an eyebrow at his question and he waves a hand at the wall.

"That was like no shark I've ever seen, but you seem to know what it is."

Waving it off I shove the flag in my pocket with the others and walk past him, my fist igniting to give enough light for him not to trip as he turns and catches up.

About an hour and three or four tunnel choices later we stop in front of another fork in the passage and as I turn my head I pick up the sound of running water coming from the right passage.

"I say we go left."

I shake my head at his suggestion and point right. "We go right, there's running water that way."

He grimaces but follows as I walk down the tunnel, my senses on edge, the bad feeling returning. Twenty feet from the opening of the tunnel I stop abruptly, causing the stripper to stumble back.

"What the hell, Flame Brain?"

Instead of answering I call my scales to cover my arms and heat them, then step forward, my arms up and level with my shoulders as two big blades swing from the walls and melt on contact with my scales. After the blades are gone I look back to see him staring at me, slack-jawed, and I shake the molten metal off my arms. "Instincts, Stripper, they're a bitch sometimes but they say a lot."

He nods and I move on, taking off the tattered remains of my cloak and burning it as I walk.

We leave the tunnel and I look to see that we're in a much larger cavern then the last three where we found the other flags. The sound of running water coming from the gigantic waterfall on one side of the cavern.

"Alright, what do you see?"

I growl and do a double take when I see the two remaining flags. One hovering near the waterfall while the other hangs from the ceiling over some very intimidating stalagmites. The spires as thick around as tree trunks and so tall they could reach the tops of Dad's horns.

"Ash for brains!"

Rolling my eyes I turn back to ice prick and increase the size of the flame in my hand.

"Shut the hell up before I make you, ya damn stripper. If you just give me a minute you can see for yourself."

He scowls but is quiet as I throw the flame in my hand into the air, which explodes when it reaches it's peak, allowing light to fill the cavern. "You go after the flag over the water fall, I'll take one over the stalagmites."

Without waiting for his reply I move toward the impressive rock formations, plans on how to reach it already forming. By the time I stand close enough to be almost under the flag I have a somewhat solid plan that I put into action by heating my hands and melting hand holds into the rock. I hoist myself up the rock until I'm balancing on the tip of the stalagmite and scowl when I see that the flag is still almost twenty feet above me.

"Okay, Natsu, you need to get twenty feet into the air, then drop back down over two-hundred without getting hurt." I mutter as I look around for a way up.

Finally, I decide on doing something stupid, reckless, and most likely if the fall doesn't kill me, Luce will when I get back to the surface.

I jump, aiming for the closest stalactite, and when I crash into it I immediately sink my hands into the rock to form a good handhold. I start climbing the stalactite and I feel the mark on my back heat up and grow restless.

Yup, she's pissed, is the only thought that crosses my mind when I smell a small bit of smoke coming from the back of my shirt. That only happens when she's truly, utterly, gonna strangle me as soon as she sees me, pissed.

My thoughts quickly turn away from her and my death at her hands when my handhold crumbles away, leaving me hanging on with one hand and staring at my death-by-falling.

"Flame Brain, I did not spend my entire day hunting your ass down to apologize to Lucy just to have you die the day after."

I growl and swing my hand up, quickly melting another hole in the rock and test it before answering him. "Shut it, Stripper, before I come over there and make you."

He laughs and I huff silently vowing revenge as I dangle from the ceiling, slowly swinging between stalactites to where the flag dangles from another of the giant rock formations. When I'm close enough I jump and, grabbing the flag as I fall, curl into a ball, my scales covering me from head to foot as I fall the last hundred fifty foot to the ground.

My back hits the ground first and I feel myself bounce a few feet in the air, then slam back into the ground. This must be what a basketball feels like, this thought occurring to me as I bounce back into the air. Thankfully, though, the bouncing stops after the second time and I stretch out, a groan escaping me. I sit up and open my hand to find the last flag, crinkled but whole and I grin.

A white slide appears next to me and I look up to see the stripper scowling as he jumps off of it. "You know she's gonna kill you, right?"

He pulls me up and hands me his flag as I pull the others from my pocket. "Yeah, yeah I do, but all that matters is that we got the flags, now we can get out of here."

When all five flags come in contact with each other they glow yellow and then the cavern around us disappears to be replaced with the arena.

The spectators watch us in silence but I ignore them in favor of turning to our balcony where I see Luce standing ramrod straight, her arms crossed over her generous chest and murder in her eyes.

"Yo, lizard skin,"

I look over at the nickname to see ice princess pointing at the lacrimas. I look them over and am surprised to see that we're the first ones out after being down there for five hours.

Then I hear a whooshing sound and look over to see Mira and Laxus appearing in front of their door.

Mira sees us first and points it out to Laxus who scowls and they walk over. "How the hell did you get out before us?"

I shrug. "It was mainly luck, what about you?"

She scowls and points at Laxus. "He wouldn't listen when I told him to turn left instead of right and we ended up getting turned around, but," she stops and looks us over and asks, "did you two fight?"

"Nah, Flame Brain wouldn't bite the bait, I can't believe I'm saying this but I miss the flame brain from before you two left for training."

Then my memory clicks and I turn to face him, even as I throw a flaming fist and send him flying into the wall of the arena. He stands up from the hole he made in the wall and I see him slide into his maker's stance.

"Ice Make: Spears!"

Grinning, I hit the deck to dodge his attack and taking a deep breath, retaliate. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The flames fade away and I see him waving his hand in front of his face. "Damn, you need a breath mint, you lizard licker."

I smirk. "At least I don't need clothes, you've lost yours, again." He looks down and jumping about a foot in the air, turns back to the hole in the wall where his pants sit in plain sight.

"And that, folks, is the last of the teams to return."

We turn to the lacrimas to see the Blue Pegasus team just showing up meaning the challenge is at an end.

"Now then, if you turn to the score boards, the points have already been added."

Fairy Tail Team A—59

Sabertooth—53

Fairy Tail Team B—50

Lamia Scale—30

Blue Pegasus—26

Stele Cad—24

Mermaid Heel—23

Quatro Cerberus—19

I take one look at the score boards and walk down the tunnel. Turning a corner I find Luce leaning against the wall, apparently waiting for me because when I walk up to her she slaps me then hugs me.

"Baka, why did you do that?"

I tilt her head back so I can see her eyes and smirk. "Come on, I had to do something to show up the stripper."

She scowls and I chuckle. "Luce, it was just a tiny fall. I'm fine, a bit sore, but fine all the same."

This time she arches an eyebrow. "And what about the sharks? Have you already forgotten the megalodon?"

My expression softens. "I didn't take it face on, if that's what you mean. I remembered what Aqua had said."

Okay, so maybe down playing it isn't the best idea but it seems to work as her fury melts away and she jabs me in the chest with a finger.

"Still, you pull a move like that again and we'll see how you look with no hair."

I pale as I remember the trick the lightning dragons pulled and she giggles. "They aren't the only ones who know how to handle scissors, of course you would probably know that since Cancer has threatened you before."

This time she laughs as I start looking around, fearing that the crab spirit is nearby. The last time he threatened to make me bald was because I had used Urano Metria on him when we were training with Celeste. Let's just say it's not an experience I want to repeat any time soon.

After making sure that the crab spirit is, indeed, not here I heave a sigh of relief and turn back to her, an idea forming as I see her watching people as they pass by.

"What do you say we go back to the inn, change into something not so flashy, and go get a drink?"

She turns her attention to me and smiles. "I would love to but," I arch an eyebrow and she smirks as she adds, "only if you're paying."

I smirk, thinking of exactly where I can get the money from. Grabbing her wrist I pull her down the tunnel until I find Mira's scent and turn that way.

After turning down another hall I find Mira walking with Gramps and we stop in front of them. She tilts her head in confusion and I hold out a hand, then she gets the message.

She reaches into a pocket and hands me a bag of coins. "Here's your payout."

Letting go of Lucy's hand I open the bag and can tell that it's one of those bags with an enchantment making the inside larger than it would be. I grin and turn back to Luce. "Now we're set, let's go."

She looks at Mira then back at me and frowns, but before she's able to ask I pull her down the tunnels and out of the Domus Flau to the inn.

Lucy P.O.V.

I have no clue what just happened but I get my chance to ask when we get back to the inn and Natsu sets the bag down on the table.

As he walks over to his bag I sit on our bed and watch him. "What's in the bag Mira gave you?"

"1.5 million jewel." He says it almost flippantly and I stare at him.

"Where did it come from?"

He throws the uniform shirt into his bag and pulls out a red and gold T-shirt. "Cana put up a three million jewel bet on when we would get over our fight and the guys paid into it, throwing my name in there as well. When they won the bet the pot had been raised to ten million so dividing that by the seven of us, it turned to almost 1.5 for everyone."

I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head. "And how exactly do you know all this?"

He pulls on a pair of blue jeans and looks for his belt as he throws over his shoulder, "Jellal told me yesterday when he and Elfman were dragging me to the tailor to get me fitted for that damn suit."

This time he catches my attention when he walks over to the closet where Erza, Wendy and I have our clothes and throws some of mine at me. I hold up the fabric to see my pair of black skinny jeans that Lisanna bought me for my birthday and a black halter top with a lacy hem.

The jeans are snug and fit in all the right places while the halter is a sleeveless affair showing the zodiacs to the world. The bottom of it stops just above my navel leaving a good show of skin that I know will have him drooling.

I look over when I hear a growl to have my suspicions confirmed. Natsu leans against the door of the closet, his eyes predatory as he watches me and I smirk.

Walking over to him and the closet I reach into a drawer and pull out a necklace that goes well with the outfit, a fire ruby as big as my thumb that shines in the light and hangs from a golden chain.

Grabbing a set of five-inch heels I turn around and slap Natsu's hand away as I walk back to the bed. He growls again and I pin him with a playful glare and a smirk.

"Down boy, drinks first, games later."

He pushes away from the wall and I tighten the strap on my boot as I jump up and, dodging his arms, move back to the mirror. I stop in front of it and he walks up behind me as I lay the necklace around my neck.

"You know, Luce, you're gonna be the death of me?"

I pull my hair away from my neck and he hooks the clasp on the necklace. Turning around I lay a hand on his chest and kiss him then move away.

"Then let's hope it's not tonight, I'm still holding you to that drink."

He laughs and grabs the bag of money off the table, running to catch up to where I'm holding the door of the room open.

* * *

 **So what did y'all think?**

 **The idea for the labyrinth was not mine, that came from diferntevryday. Thanks a lot for the idea. I want to think it turned out pretty cool, but I'll leave it up to y'all to decide.**

 **Anyway there's not much else to say today so I'll see y'all either Monday or with my next updated story.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. 4 A.M. is a bitch.**


	20. The Night Out

**STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER GO BACK AND REREAD CHAPTER 19!**

 **Many thanks to _Samuel Bryant17_ to pointing out the fact last week that chapter 19 was light on details. So I went back and did some rewriting. Let's just say that chapter 19 went from 3,000 words to over 7,000 because I got caught up in writing it.**

 **Anyway I am begging y'all that before you move onto this chapter you go back and reread the previous chapter. As for this chapter, well I'll discuss it with you later.**

* * *

Chapter 20

The Night Out

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

We stop in front of a bar called 'The Starlight Lounge'. The outside isn't much to look at, a building that looks strikingly similar to the others surrounding it, but when he pulls me inside the door my breath is stolen by the beauty of it.

The ceiling is painted black and I can see that the lights are placed to resemble the constellations. Even as I quickly look over the ceiling I can pick out a few I know all too well.

On one side a black marble bar runs along the entire wall, at least twenty-five stools lining it, most already occupied. Behind the bar, barmaids dressed in black crop tops and booty shorts run back and forth filling orders.

In front of us about ten or fifteen tables stand, again almost all of them occupied, as waitresses in clothing similar to the barmaid's walk between them taking orders. On the opposite side of the building a large dance floor sits with a few people dancing to the music coming from the band on stage.

My attention is drawn back to Natsu when he stops in front of a waiter and asks for a table. The waiter leads us to one of the booth tables along the back wall and he runs off to get us drinks as we look over the menus.

"So, what do you think?"

I look over the top of my menu to see him watching me intently and wave a hand at this place. "It's amazing, but how did you find it?"

He shrugs. "I overheard a couple of people talking about it the other day so I thought it would be nice to check it out."

We spend the next hour talking and eating until I tune into the song the band is playing. I grin and stand up, Natsu watching me curiously.

I grab his hand and pulling him out of the booth, lead him to the dance floor. I listen for a minute to gain the beat and hum to the lyrics.

 _Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

 _But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts,_

I turn my back to him and when he lays a hand on my hip I turn on him and he steps back. Laying a hand on his shoulder he catches on and runs a hand over my shoulder blade.

 _Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

 _But that's alright, because I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

He turns his head away and I turn it back to me his lips brushing mine ever so lightly before I step back.

 _I can't tell you what it really is_

 _I can only tell you what it feels like_

 _And right now there's a steel knife, in my windpipe_

 _I can't breathe, but I still fight, while I can fight_

He grabs my arm, his grip barely there and I turn away, my hair whipping around my head as I do and I feel him step closer, a hand wrapping around my hip.

 _As long as the wrong feels right, it's like I'm in flight_

 _High off of love, drunk from my hate_

 _It's like I'm huffing paint and I love it the more that I suffer_

I turn to him and roll under his arm, my arm clinging to his back until I stand facing in front of him again. Looking into his eyes I almost get lost in the fiery depths.

 _I suffocate and right before I'm about to drown_

 _She resuscitates me, she fucking hates me,_

 _And I love it, wait_

Pushing off from his chest I turn to walk away again and he pulls me back, his breath hot on my neck. Around us I feel the temperature start to rise and I can't tell if it's from our dancing or our magic.

 _Where you going, I'm leaving you_

 _No you ain't, come back_

 _We're running right back, here we go again_

 _It's so insane 'cause when it's going good, it's going great_

 _I'm Superman, with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane_

This time he pushes me away and I wrap an ankle around his leg as a counterbalance to not fall, my head turned to his neck and I pick up his scent ten times heavier from the dancing.

 _But when it's bad, it's awful_

 _I feel so ashamed, I snapped, who's that dude_

 _I don't even know his name, I laid hands on her_

 _I'll never stoop so low again, I guess I don't know my own strength_

He turns us around, holding onto my forearm even as I hold onto his and when he brings his other hand up I wrap my elbow around his throwing his arm out and stepping closer.

 _Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

 _But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts_

 _Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

 _But that's alright, because I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

My breathing stops as my nose scrapes his collarbone and I hear his breath hitch, both our bodies following the beat of the song.

 _You ever love somebody so much_

 _You can barely breathe, when you're with them, you meet_

 _And neither one of you, even know what hit 'em,_

 _Got that warm fuzzy feeling, yeah them chills, used to get 'em_

We push away from each other, but our eyes remain locked and when he steps forward I hook my leg around his and turn my head away.

 _Now you're getting fucking sick, of looking at 'em_

 _You swore you've never hit 'em, never do nothing to hurt 'em,_

 _Now you're in each others face,_

 _Spewing venom, and these words, when you spit 'em_

 _You push, pull each other's hair, scratch, claw, bit 'em,_

Turning around I push against him with a hand and we separate again, his eyes playful even though his movements are predatory.

 _Throw 'em down, pin 'em, so lost in the moments, when you're in 'em_

 _It's the rage that's the culprit, it controls you both_

 _So they say it's best, to go your separate ways,_

 _Guess that they don't know ya 'cause today, that was yesterday_

He wraps his hands around my hips and pulls me in until there isn't a space between us. The air we breath the one and the same, our hearts beat as one.

 _Yesterday is over, it's a different day_

 _Sound like broken records, playin' over, but you promised her_

 _Next time you'll show restraint_

 _You don't get another chance,_

 _Life is no Nintendo game, but you lied again_

Our heads turn to different sides and we push at each, the space opening between us, and I turn away, my steps graceful.

 _Now you get to watch her leave,_

 _Out the window, guess that's why they call it window pane_

 _Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

 _But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts_

He stays put but I feel his eyes follow me as I walk behind him. His fiery eyes, along with the raised temperature, keeps my attention.

 _Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

 _But that's alright, because I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

I wind my arm around his and he turns to me, his leg again wrapping around mine and keeping me from moving away again.

 _Now I know we said things, did things_

 _That we didn't mean and we fall back into the same patterns_

 _Same routine, but your temper's just as bad, as mine is_

 _You're the same as me, but when it comes to love, you're just as blinded_

I raise an arm and he blocks it just as I block his, and he pushes me so that I lean back, his other arm keeping me from falling.

 _Baby please come back, it wasn't you,_

 _Baby it was me, maybe our relationship isn't as crazy as it seems_

 _Maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano_

 _All I know is I love you too much, to walk away now_

Leaning back up my eyes lock with his and I take a step back letting him take a step forward while my hand comes to rest on his shoulder.

 _Come inside, pick up your bags off the sidewalk_

 _Don't you hear sincerity, in my voice when I talk,_

 _Told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball_

 _Next time I'm pissed, I'll aim my fist at the dry wall_

He stomps his foot and I move away my head turning and my hair flying over my shoulders. I'm dimly aware that we have an audience as I turn my back to him again.

 _Next time, there will be no next time_

 _I apologize even though I know it's lies_

 _I'm tired of the games, I just want her back, I know I'm a liar_

He pulls me in, a magnet I can't ignore, and I find myself in his arms again, but I still look away. My blood boils with heat, the air around us hot enough to burn any who get too close.

 _If she ever tries to fucking leave again_

 _I'm a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire_

 _Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

 _But that's alright, because I like the way it hurts_

As the last phrase fades through the air I stand holding onto his forearm as he grips mine and look away. My chest heaves, the air I breathe hot enough to remind me of the lava rivers of Fire Territory.

 _Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

 _But that's alright, because I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

 _I love the way you lie_

I look back when he tugs my arm and I can't help the grin that settles in place, but I'm not the only one. Natsu's grin is as big if not bigger than mine.

"Seven hells, Luce, how did you learn to dance like that?"

My face warms up and I become aware of everyone in the place watching us. A quick glance out of the corner of my eye tells me they're watching us in awe so I grab Natsu's hand and pull him back to the bar.

We sit on two stools toward the end of the bar and away from the other patrons while we wait for a barmaid to notice us.

"So, when did you learn to dance like that?"

A lock of my hair falls in front of my face and I pull it behind my ear as I lick my lips. "Growing up, I didn't just learn ballroom dancing, my instructor taught me several different varieties." Then I look up at him and arch an eyebrow. "What about you?"

He tilts his head and I see his eyes sparkle in amusement. "What about me?"

"Where'd _you_ learn to dance like that?"

We look up when a barmaid stops in front of us and order a couple of drinks and as she walks away he shrugs.

"I've always been pretty attuned to how you move, so picking up something like dancing is pretty easy when it's with you."

I nod and we stay quiet until the barmaid comes back with the drinks. She sets them down on the counter and stands there until we look at her.

She looks like she's trying to gather her courage then, "Are you two Fairy Tail mages?"

We nod and she squeals causing us to cringe at the effect on our ears. She waves a hand in front of her face.

"Oh my gods, two Fairy Tail mages are in our bar!" Then she turns around and calls out to some of the barmaids and they rush over as well.

Two stop about five feet away and they squeal even louder as another shouts, "It's the Salamander!"

The place goes so quiet that even without my dragon hearing I'd be able to hear a pin drop from across the room. Then the first barmaid catches our attention and looks at me quizzically.

"Wait, if that's Salamander then you must be Lucy, the celestial mage?!"

I nod and we have to cover our ears from how loud the squealing is. The next thing we know we're surrounded by people, guys trying to ask me out on a date, get signatures or even to touch me. That one sends a shudder up my spine but fortunately Natsu is no better off. If anything he's even worse off. He has to deal with the squealing, the cat fights, and I even see one girl try to hop in his lap.

That's when I lose my cool and the atmosphere in the building becomes considerably hotter, causing everyone to back away from my glare. I feel Natsu set a hand on my arm and the skin becomes cold, letting me know he's using his ice magic.

"Easy, Luce, let's just go."

He throws some jewel on the counter for the drinks and pulling me off the stool leads me outside before I can burn the place down.

As we walk down the sidewalk I eventually cool down and he slows down until we're walking at a slow pace and he has his arm around my waist. The sun has long since set and the streets are empty with only the lacrima lamps and the light of the moon to guide us as we walk around town.

"You know you're my one and only, right?"

I nod at his whispered question and he chuckles. Turning my head so that I'm looking up at him I see his typical 'go do something crazy that may or may not get us into trouble' grin.

"Just like I'm your one and only. I 'll never see another girl as I see you, Luce. Be it this life or in another, there's no girl I will ever love as much as I love you. The world could be ending, the sky falling, the dark guilds chasing us to the ends of the earth, but it wouldn't matter as long as I have you."

He pulls me in and I lay my head on his chest, his warm arms enveloping me, and he lays his head on my shoulder. We stand there for I don't know how long, it could be five minutes, it could be an hour, I don't know. It just feels too right to want to move. Of course, that is, until he pulls away and I look up to see mischief in his onyx eyes.

"Wanna go see if we can play some pranks on the guild?"

I look up at the sky, judging it to only be about 11:00, so it's highly likely the guild is still at the rented pub celebrating another day at being on top. Turning back to him I grin and we slip into the shadows, simultaneously, to take off for the bar.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As Natsu and Lucy shoot off to go prank their guildmates a small door opens in the clock tower. The very small door opens as a nose pushes through and eventually a small, golden mouse steps through.

On it's back sits a tiny satchel which it shakes off and opens. It pulls out three small orbs as big as it's eyes and when it sets a paw on them they glow orange and hover over the mouse's head.

The mouse squeaks and the orbs take off disappearing into the night. Satisfied that it's completed it's mission it turns and walks back through the portal.

After it passes through the door swings shut and the mouse stands in between two walls, the space only big enough for it's whiskers to flex without touching either wall.

It turns and walks down the path until it stops in front of another door, this one quite a bit bigger than the first one. Touching the door with it's snout the mouse changes shape until a cat sits in front of the door, then it swings open and the cat passes through into a room with carpet covering the walls and the ceiling.

Across from the door an open entryway is seen and the cat leaps through, landing on another platform with a similar setup to the one it left. It enters the entryway and a door two feet taller then the cat stands there. Again it touches the door and again it changes shape, this time into a long, golden furred dog.

The door swings open, silently, and the dog passes through, the door swinging shut and almost catching on it's tail. It growls but keeps moving, walking past the bones set next to a wall, the chain tied near the entry, the bowls with words written in characters that could be a language, and to a hole in the fence behind the doghouse.

On the other side of the fence a two-lane path with floating shiny vehicles runs, from the right to left and left to right.

Dashing across the path the dog narrowly avoids getting hit and ducks into another hole in a fence. It looks around the area, checking to make sure it's clear then dashes across the silver green ground and through a sliding glass door.

Across the lime green sea of tiles stands a dark wooden door that should not be there and yet is. It steps up to it and touches the door with it's nose, it's shape again changing.

This time a young girl of about five stands there as the door swings open. She yawns as she passes through and a growl escapes her when the door slams shut behind her.

She stands in a hallway with steps hanging overhead, leading to who knows where, steps leading off from her left and down, then another set of steps leading off from her right and up to a landing and another door.

Grumbling as she walks she jumps the railing and crossing her arms over her chest, taps a finger against her arm as she seems to fall for a long time, but almost as soon as the fall starts, she's standing on her feet in front of yet another door.

She groans as she transforms into a form of about fifteen or sixteen and this time her words are clear as she steps through the door.

"I don't even know why I let them talk me into doing this. Why couldn't they be satisfied with just waiting like the rest of us?"

She walks down another hall made up of moving and changing colors, each one reflecting her moods as she jumps a set of steps to land in front of a door built into the floor.

When she transforms again, she's in a black hoody with stars lining the hem, a pair of black jeans and black runners, her age now closer to early or mid twenties.

Jumping through the door she stands on the landing in front of a door in the portal realm.

"I swear if they don't give me my hibernation time I'm gonna give them an earful on why we don't mess with the portals."

She walks around the star filled lake and up to the door leading to the dragon realm. It opens as soon as her feet touch the steps leading to the landing and a small smile appears as she passes through. Stepping through the portal she transforms into her original body, golden scales gleaming as she spirals down around the castle in the capitol to land in the courtyard.

Almost as soon as she settles the doors to the castle fly open and the other dragons who trained Natsu and Lucy walk out with Igneel and Layla in the lead. The other dragons stop twenty feet away from the irritated celestial dragon while Layla and Igneel walk up to Celeste's snout.

"Thank you, Celeste, for doing this for us."

Celeste snorts, rolling her eyes, and Igneel chuckles. "Alright, Celeste, just as we promised you, a year of hibernation with no disruptions."

She nods and sits up, locking gazes with Acnologia. "Ackey, I swear if you wake me you'll find yourself stuck in the elf realm faster then you can say 'mouse'."

Acnologia grimaces and nods. "Like I said before you left, my world is yours to use. Besides, I have a feeling I'm gonna be stuck around here more often with the cams up and running."

She nods again and takes off, angling toward the desert and the Chaos dragon's sanctuary, the only place a celestial dragon can hibernate without being disrupted.

After she fades away into the dark of the fading night, Layla turns to the dragons. "Let's go see how the two are doing."

The dragons agree whole heartedly and disappear inside just as the sun breaks the horizon, signalling a new day.

* * *

 **So, this chapter has no battles, nothing about the GMG in general, but I felt we needed a little NaLu time. Just to see how they are when their crazy guildmates aren't hanging around and pretty much stalking them.**

 **Now you're probably going something like:**

 **"Grizz, what's this got to do with the GMG?"**

 **Let me tell you right now, the part with the dragons was an idea from _BLUEDOG197._**

 ***pouts* I had this whole A/N done last night, but when I went to go save it, the computer crashed. So I just went ahead shut the computer off and went to bed. And now I can't remember anything of what I was gonna write.**

 **Anyway, while this chapter may have been a partial filler, it's not necessarily to extend chapters. I wanted Natsu and Lucy to have fun, go out and have a good time.**

 **The song they're dancing to is _Love The Way You Lie_ by Eminem ft. Rihanna. **

**Reasonings behind the song:**

 **1) I have music playing with an ear bud in my ear from when I wake up to when I go to sleep, so when I started writing this chapter my tablet had been going through my Eminem albums and just as it came to the start of the dance and I was looking for a song it started playing.**

 **2) The lyrics, if y'all didn't notice, go back and read them again.**

 **Why didn't I choose another?**

 ***Shrugs* I never see anyone play like Eminem. I've seen a lot of others I listen too, Imagine Dragons and Brad Pitt to name a couple, but I've also seen some I've never heard before. Which by the way I should probably add that this is my first dance scene I've ever written and that I, myself, have two left feet.**

 **But I'm rambling. Y'all should know the drill by now. Make sure you leave me reviews. What do you wanna see happen? What are your theories? Any spells? Y'all HAVE GOTTA LET ME KNOW.**

 **Also, if you're a new reader make sure you follow and fave not only the story but myself as well for new chapters and stories. In the mean time I will see y'all later.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!**


	21. Day 4 Part 1

**Gah, I am so, so, so sorry that this is coming out so late in the day, I literally on finished this chapter like a few minutes ago. I've been having trouble with this chapter for the last two weeks. Yes, I have been working on this chapter for two weeks straight.**

 **I have been so stuck on this chapter that I stared at the screen for hours trying to think of what to write, then I stayed up so late trying to get it done. I've been trying. I really have.**

 **But the good news is that you have the chapter now.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21**

Day 4 Part 1

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Sitting up I hold my hand out behind me, never taking my eyes off my target, and I feel Luce lay a marker in it. Slowly pulling the cap off so to not make a sound I hear Luce giggle and I turn my head away to shoot her a glare then turn back to my work.

Carefully, ever so gently, I press the felt tip of the permanent marker to the nude polar bear's forehead, giving him a unibrow, then draw up to the top of his forehead and off to one side, finishing off the design with a swirl. Then I put the cap back on and hand the marker back to Luce.

"Are you sure you wanna burn his hair like the others?"

I roll my eyes at her murmured words and ignite my index with a miniscule flame, not big enough to be smelled or felt, but hot enough for what I'm doing.

With a smirk, I lower the finger to the side of his head and get to work burning a design there.

When he moves the flame goes out and we let the shadows in the floorboards swallow us until he settles back down. Then I rise back up to finish my drawing while Luce stays in between the floorboards to stay out of sight.

Killing the flame I look at the clock and jump back in surprise when I read 3:00 A.M.

Looking down to where she sits in the floorboards I wave a hand at the clock. "Luce, we gotta get back if we're gonna get any sleep for today."

She rises up and scowls at me, her voice as equally low so as to not wake emo ice. "You're the one who suggested we get him as well, I've been ready to turn in since Max."

I huff, a cloud of smoke escaping me, and give in easily enough. "Alright, let's go. I think we've done more than enough damage for tonight."

Turning around she zips out under the door and I follow her down the hall and into our room where I see her walk out of the shadow and fall into the bed, not bothering to change out of her outfit she wore to the dance club. I yawn, only now noticing how tired I am, and manage to pull my shirt off before falling into the bed beside her. Her soft snore is the last thing I hear as I doze off.

I'm dreaming about a nice juicy steak until something zaps me and I jump up to stand on the bed, my mind still focused on the steak until I see Luce standing off to one side hiding a smirk while the electricity dies out in her hand.

I growl and she points at the clock. "Natsu, we have to get ready for the portal to the arena. Erza's already moved on to waking Gray up so I told her I'd wake you up."

Jumping back down to sit on the bed as she says this I take in the fact that she's already changed into her game clothes and that I can see mine sitting on the edge of the sink through the door behind her. Standing, I stretch and the memories of last night come to me.

"Hey, Luce, anything from the guild yet?"

She grins. "Nothing yet, but I don't think it'll be long, Gray should be up at anytime now."

Grinning in return I walk past her and shut the door to the bathroom behind me as I get changed. This time I don't have my cloak to mess with so I'm done changing sooner and step out in enough time to see Erza, Ice prick, and Wendy walking in the door.

When emo ice turns to me I see the five clawed print I burned into his hair last night and I can't help the smirk the rises to my lips.

"Nice hair cut, Ice prick."

He scowls but before he can retort there's a knock at the door and Luce opens it to reveal the portal to the arena. We walk through the door and as he walks by me I can make out the faint traces of the marker that still sits on his head.

We walk out onto the balcony and I look around to see Sabertooth and Gajeel and his team just entering theirs while the spectator seats are being filled.

Then Gajeel sees me and I see his expression go from disgruntled like he usually is to downright pissed off.

"Damn you, Salamander, you're a dead man for these fucking pranks!"

Luce leans on the balcony railing closest to theirs and her voice is sweet with an undertone of devil as she calls back. "What's the matter, Gajeel, don't like the new do?"

His jaw drops and he looks from Luce to me and back again. The look on his face, priceless and I start laughing so hard that soon I have a stitch in my side.

"Damn, Metalhead," I stop to catch my breath and even then I still chuckle. "She got you good."

He snorts and as he turns away I see, with satisfaction, the five claw print on the back of his head. I look down to see her giving me a fanged grin so I return it.

"That was a good one, Luce."

Her grin changes to a small smile and we look out over the field to watch as more people fill in the seats and the balconies start to fill up.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the fourth day of the games. As always, this is your announcer, Chapati Lola with retired council member, Yajima, but you are certainly in for a treat today. Today's guest announcer may be short, he may be old, but he is strong, as in strong enough to be one of the ten wizard saints. Of course if you're the master of Fairy Tail, you have to be strong, isn't that right, Master Makarov?"

We look up to the announcer's booth in shock and sure enough I can see Gramps standing on the desk in front of the lacrima mic.

"Actually, Chapati, it's not so much about control as you have to know when to let them have their fun."

Luce and I share a look and shake our heads in amusement as Mato walks out onto the field.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

The stone rises behind Mato and the words blur, changing to reveal today's events.

 _Day 1: The Windy City_

 _Day 2: One on One Battles_

 _Day 3: Dark Labyrinth_

 _Day 4: Morning: One on One Battles, Afternoon: Tag Team Battles_

 _Day 5: ?_

 _Day 6: ?_

 _Day 7: ?_

"This morning we will start with, punkin, one on one battles. Each battle will be an hour long; if both sides are still standing by the end of the hour it ends in a draw and both sides gain five points. If one side falls out before the hour is up then the winner earns ten points and the loser gains zero." Then he points at the Fairy Tail and Quatro Cerberus balconies. "The first one on one battle will be Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail Team A against Bacchus Groh of Quatro Cerberus."

Cheers sound from the crowd as Erza and Bacchus make their way to the field. The yellow outline of the shield shoots across the ground, outlining their fighting space, and they take up stances on opposite sides of the arena.

Erza's eyes go to the bottle sitting at Bacchus's feet then back to him as he cracks his knuckles and grins.

"Well, Erza, this is gonna be one wild fight."

Erza nods. "Yes, this will be, but you won't be winning this."

Then the bell rings and Bacchus is rushing toward her, faster than she can blink. She moves out of the way allowing him to run by her harmlessly and her body glows as she requips.

The armor features very few armored parts. It's cheetah printed, and the outfit has a large collar around Erza's neck with a tail hanging from the back of her shorts, both made of bushy fur, plus a pair of large cheetah's ears adorn both both sides of Erza's head. A pair of short swords with elaborate hand-guards similar to a rapier's, shaped like a rose's thorns finish out the armor.

She runs after Bacchus and is able to get a swing in before he starts throwing punches at her. They trade blows for a few minutes then he backs away.

"Damn, Scarlet, with such a fine body I'm not surprised you can keep up, but let's see if you can keep up with this."

He grins and bends down to pick up the gourd at his feet but flinches away when an arrow hits it. He looks up to see Erza holding a bow where she stands fifty feet away.

On her back a quiver of red fletched arrows is seen over her right shoulder. Her hair is tied into buns on the sides of her head while two long bangs frame her face. The dress is tied around her neck and around her waist with a red sash. The skirt of the dress has a slash on both sides all the way to the sash and has a red hem while the rest of it is white. The sleeves of the dress start at the middle of her upper arm and billows down around her wrists. The bow in her left hand has a grip of dark blue, contrasting with the gold feathering work extending out and away from the grip.

"Nice try, Bacchus, but you'll just have to go without your liquor for this match."

Bacchus shrugs and settles into his fighting posture. "Okay, let's see how wild this fight really can get."

She requips and makes the first move, her Heaven's Wheel armor shining in the sunlight.

Meanwhile, up in the announcer's booth, a very curious conversation is taking place…

"Alright, Master Makarov, you have a lot of faith in your guild, but do you really think that the great 'Titania' will be able to defeat Quatro Cerberus's own Drunken Falcon?"

Makarov snorts in response to Chapati's question and places a hand to his chin. "It's a very even fight, that's for sure, and I have no doubt that Erza can hold her own, but the question you should be asking is how far can Bacchus go without his liquor? Now that Erza has prevented him from obtaining power for his stronger attacks, will he be able to hold his own?"

"Makey, I think you think a little too much of your guild. If you had paid attention you would've taken note of the second, smaller gourd he keeps on his belt."

Makarov's face goes pale at Yajima's observation and he jumps up to stand in front of his mic.

"Erza, kick his ass!"

The other judges sweat drop at his shout and look in enough time to see Bacchus break one of her swords.

As the fight continues on it becomes clear that both Erza and Bacchus are evenly matched and cannot overcome the other. Then the bell rings. Mato steps out into the field, halting the mages in their tracks.

"The one hour is up and both sides still stand. This match is a tie, punkin. Five points to Fairy Tail Team A and Quatro Cerberus."

At his words the crowd's cheering becomes so loud that the slayers grimace and cover their ears until it calms down enough for Mato to announce the next match.

"The next battle is Rufus Lore versus Kagura Mikazuchi."

Both mages walk out onto the field. Kagura's sword, Archenemy, shines where it sits on her hip and the feather on Rufus's hat moves in the breeze.

The bell tolls and Mato races off the field as Rufus raises a hand to his hat brim in greeting.

"This will certainly be a battle to be memorized, wouldn't you agree?"

Kagura remains stoic and places her hand on Archenemy's grip. "A battle is just a show of strength. Let's see who is strongest."

Rufus clasps his hands behind his back and whispers something too low for the gravity mage to hear.

The ground starts to shake and a spire of rock shoots out from under Kagura's feet, causing the mage to jump back and away. When another spire rises she swings her sword, still sheathed, and splits the spire in half.

"Your actions are memorized. Memory Make: Sword Maelstrom!" Rufus holds out his hand and a cloud of swords fly at Kagura.

She raises a hand and half the swords fall to the ground, the gravity in the arena having increased to immeasurable heights.

Rufus smirks. "Reactions memorized. Memory Make: Gale Force Destruction!"

The swords that had fallen to the ground are picked up by the heavy winds and start to fly around Kagura.

The gravity mage does her best to keep the swords away and manages to cut through quite a few of them but they eventually overwhelm her and she falls out.

While the crowds are going crazy cheering for the winner, in the Mermaid Heel base things are much quieter.

Beth, the vegetable mage, turns to her teammates, her frown matching theirs. "Well, I'll be a flea bitten mutt, I didn't think she would lose."

Risley, the other gravity mage on their team, shakes her head. "I thought for sure Kagura was gonna take him out."

"Chicas, don't forget we still have the afternoon fights." Beth and Risley turn to Araña as she watches the field where it's being cleaned up for the next match.

"What makes you think we'll be part of the afternoon fights, Araña?"

Araña turns her gaze from the field to Millianna. "Because it you've noticed they have each set of battles set up so that one guild goes up against another at least once."

"Well bust my bubble and call me a pancake, Araña's right. There's no doubt two people will be going up this afternoon."

Millianna giggles at Beth's words and the team of women turn back to the field when Mato walks out.

"Next match is, punkin, between Chelia Blendy of Lamia Scale and Jenny Realight of Blue Pegasus."

Everyone cheers as the blonde bombshell of Blue Pegasus and the sky maiden of Lamia Scale step out on opposite sides of the field, the shield having already been reinforced.

Jenny waves to the crowds as Chelia puts her hands on her hips and smiles. "Can't you just feel the love in the air?"

When Mato puts his hand into the air the girls take on serious looks and focus on their opponent. The clock strikes once, twice, thrice, and Mato is barely clearing the field as Chelia makes her first move.

"Sky God's Bellow!"

Black air rushes at Jenny but the blonde jumps out of the way in enough time to dodge the attack. She wears a smirk as she watches the god slayer closely.

"Really, kid, is that all you got?"

Chelia smiles and tilts her head. "I'm just getting warmed up, ready to see how much love I can put into this fight?"

"Sky God's Dance!"

Faster than Jenny can blink Chelia's running at her, twisting mid step, as a vortex of black air surrounds the slayer. The vortex lifts Jenny up and Chelia moves quickly, taking shot after shot at the blonde.

When Jenny falls to the ground she's down for the count and Mato steps onto the field.

"Jenny Realight is down and out, Chelia wins ten points for Lamia Scale."

Up on the Blue Pegasus balcony Jenny's teammates stare at the sight, stunned that their friend was defeated so easily.

Hibiki sighs and pushes his glasses up his nose. "Well, that was a one-sided fight if I've ever seen one."

"I can't believe she defeated Jenny so easily, two moves and she won." Ren turns to Eve as he says this and scowls.

"Like you're one to talk, Wendy defeated you in just the same amount of time."

Eve frowns. "At least I got several hits in before she moved, Jenny didn't get any."

Then Ichya holds up a hand. "Easy now, men, there is no need to blame, we'll claim our points in time."

The trimen bow to Ichya, then turn their attention back to the field.

Mato stands in the middle of the field and waits until the crowd somewhat settles then starts to speak. "The final battle of the morning will be between, punkin, Mirajane of Fairy Tail Team B and Mizu Kibō of Stele Cad."

In the announcer's booth Chapati turns to Makarov. "Now, Makarov, Mirajane is one of your best s-class wizards, yes?"

Makarov chuckles. "Aye, she is a strong mage who can most certainly hold her own in a fight."

"Makey, what do you think of the challenger, Mizu?"

The guild leader's gaze drops to the hooded figure where they stand across the field from Mira.

"Yajima, I can't believe I didn't see this earlier, but we have nymphs in our mix." Yajima looks at Makarov in surprise and turns his gaze back to the hooded figure just in time to see Mizu drop the cloak.

The cloak falls and the nymph stands there in a turquoise suit with matching shoes. His hair is short and spiky while the color goes from deep blue at the roots to a shade of blue lighter then the suit. Fabric billows from his back but without a second notice it changes into wings of water. Similar to his sister he has two sets of wings, a large set that points to the sky and a smaller set that points to the ground.

He holds his hands in front of him and slightly above his head as he chants, "Tumultuous Waters!"

Water rises up the sides of the arena in a single wall that comes crashing down on Mira. The impact is so harsh that the tremors can be felt on the other side of Crocus.

The water pulls away from their location of impact and gathers behind Mizu in pillars as Mira gets up, giggling.

"You really think that water is gonna hurt me?"

Her question has the nymph frowning in confusion as Mira changes to one of her take-overs.

Horns made of long sky blue scales, extending backwards to a pointed edge, the horn's scales also extend to form a pattern on her face. Her ears, hidden behind her horns, become pointed. Similar scales cover her forearms and hands as well as on her legs and she grows a large, sky blue, stocky and seemingly aquatic tail. Her clothes also change, with any attire she might be donning replaced by a light and dark blue, striped, one-piece suit with pointed shoulder-pads, revealing her arms and legs, which is open on the front and the back; exposing most of her stomach, wide cleavage, and upper back. She also permanently dons two sky blue wings composed of numerous spiky scales that are always pointing upwards.

Mizu grins when he recognizes the take-over. "Ah, Halphas, I was wondering when I would see you again."

Halphas tilts her head and looks down at her body, she clucks and looks back at him. "You know, Massster forbade me from usssing thiss form, but it ssseems to like you." As she talks she hisses on the 'S', and sounds similar to a snake.

He smirks. "Oh, trust me, we've never had a likable relationship, now it's time to finish what we started, wouldn't you agree?"

She nods in return and holds her hands together in front of her. "Cossmic Beam!"

A beam of blue and white light shoots from her hands and explodes when it hits Mizu, causing the nymph to jump into the air and rise above the explosion.

He barely has time to turn before Halphas is behind him and kicking him into the ground. He grumbles as he stands up and throws a layer of water in front of him to stop another kick aimed at his chest.

Throwing one arm over his head he deflects her punch and swings his left up, knocking her in the stomach hard enough to throw her through the shield and into the wall of the stadium.

She climbs out of the wall and looks at the mess, shaking her head. "I sswore to Masster I wouldn't make another messs, now it'ss time for you to pay the pricce."

Mizu cackles and throws his wings out to either side of him, making himself look bigger. "Bring it, Halphas, it's time to see who's the strongest."

Halphas jumps, her wings taking her higher into the air until she's hovering above the stadium. "Mizzu, it'ss time for you to acccept your defeat.

"Darknesss magic combined with a cossmic beam creates," she gathers her hands in front of her again, black veins run down her arms as the orb of energy in her hands grows larger and larger, "Crepituss!"

The beam of black and white fires down at the stadium, hitting Mizu and blowing out the floor of the arena.

When the smoke clears Halphas sits down in the arena on the edge of the hole and the transformation slides away as she takes in the sight of the unconscious nymph at the bottom of the hole.

She frowns and looks up to the announcer's booth where Makarov stares at her in shock. Then she bows.

"Forgive me, Master, I couldn't stop her from taking over."

Makarov gets over his shock and runs a hand down his face as the crowd gets over it's awe and starts cheering louder than ever. Mato walks to the side of the hole and looks down at the nymph then at the announcers.

"Mizu Kibō of Stele Cad is out, Mirajane Strauss wins the match and ten points for Fairy Tail Team B."

Chapati clears his throat and pulls everyone on track again. "Well, that was certainly a fight to watch, but now we'll be taking a one-hour intermission before we start the afternoon battles."

Almost as an afterthought the updated scores come up on the lacrima screens for the crowds to see.

 _Fairy Tail Team A—64_

 _Fairy Tail Team B—60_

 _Sabertooth—56_

 _Lamia Scale—40_

 _Blue Pegasus—26_

 _Stele Cad—24_

 _Quatro Cerberus—24_

 _Mermaid Heel—23_

* * *

 **As for the battles I know they're short, I know they lack some detail, but I hit a road block when I was writing them. Y'all know I can write a good battle scene, but as I was thinking of these I just *blows raspberries* I was a paddle boat without a paddle.**

 **Anyway you may have noticed that the battle between Mira and Mizu was much more detailed, that's because I guess I found my stride again and it turned out to be pretty cool.**

 **Now I want y'all to take special notice of the hole in the arena. That's the only clue I'm gonna give y'all about what's to come.**

 **Before I leave to write up the next chapter there's something I have to do.**

 **Review Corner:**

 ** _StrikeForceHeroeTeller:_ Hope you like the pranks.**

 ** _Samuel Bryant17:_ I'm glad you like the detail added to Ch. 19, as for the draco cams. You'll find out more about that next chapter.**

 ** _diferntevryday:_ I've already told you this in a P.M. but in case anyone else has this question. Even though I haven't out right written Natsu and Lucy are intimate, they do have sex, but seeing as this is a T-rated story I will only ever barely scratch the surface of that. **

**_Hime of Hearts:_ I will admit right now I am sorry that I haven't said anything about you. You've followed along just as diligently as Strike, or Blue, or Samuel and yet I haven't said anything about you. No, I am not gonna say you're crazy. You're a loyal reader and I love to read your reviews.**

 ** _Draganalamander:_ I'm pretty sure I answered yours in a P.M. as well but no, Zeref will not be making an appearance. He's mentioned in Ch. 6 along with E.N.D. but that is all you will see or hear of him.**

 ** _Bluedog197:_ WHERE THE HELL DO I EVEN START? Ya crazy nut ball. Your reviews always crack me up, you're just so expressive about them, that I can practically see you jumping in your seat as you read the chapter. I know because I do it too. When I see like ten of the stories I'm following update I get so excited that I can't even pick which one to read first.**

 ** _erinburkinshaw:_ This story gets updated every Monday, in case anyone didn't already know.**

 **Now that that's done, I have a headache, I'm tired and I have school in the morning so I'm gonna let y'all go.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Be on the lookout for the one shot I drop on my birthday which is this Thursday.**


	22. Day 4 Part 2

**Okay, y'all, I'm back with another chapter. Took me until 10 last night to get it done but I did it. I have my coffee, my breakfast and *looks at corner of room* a pile of college work that's touching the ceiling.**

 ***slams head on desk* FML.**

 **Did y'all know that college gives you ten times more homework then high school does? Or that the teachers are so boring that I'd rather be reading Shakespeare then listening to my teachers drone on and on about nothing? But Mom's always going on about how college is sooo much more important then my stories *snorts* so I have to "pay attention."**

 **At least I get the work done.**

 **I'm guessing y'all don't want hear much more from me but before you go on to read the next chapter I want to say thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. It means a lot to me to know y'all care.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22**

Day 4 Part 2

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

When the scores appear Erza and Gray leave the balcony for some reason or another and I feel Natsu nudging me to leave as well, but something about the hole in the arena grabs my attention.

I tilt my head, aiming my ear toward the gaping pit, trying to see if I can hear anything. When nothing reaches my ears I frown and turn my gaze back to the hole. Following my instincts, I turn and walk down the tunnel to the entrance of the field.

"Hey, Luce, what's up?"

I don't answer Natsu as I approach the entrance and start running. I leave the tunnel behind me and jump over the edge of the hole as if I was diving into water. The wind fills my ears as the layers of dirt pass by in a blur and when the ground comes into sight about a minute later I barrel roll once through the air.

"Open! Gate of the Ram: Aries!"

The golden glow appears, then Aries is falling head first next to me. "You called, Ms. Lucy?"

I nod and point to the ground quickly approaching. "Aries, I need a bed of wool, quickly, please."

She nods and a few seconds later I hear her shout, "Wool Bomb!"

A large cloud of pink wool explodes and expands where it hits the ground and a few seconds later we're hitting it and bouncing back into the air. I giggle as the bouncing stops and slide off the cloud to stand next to Aries.

"Sorry, Ms. Lucy, if the wool wasn't soft enough."

I smile and the spirit relaxes. "Aries, that was perfect, you did an amazing job."

The spirit bows in return and disappears as I turn to take in the surroundings. It's a cavern similar to what Natsu and Gray went through yesterday, but there are some major differences between those and this. The stalagmites and stalactites are so tall they combine to make columns the width of my shoulder, while in between the columns I can see old moss covered rock formations.

 _Wait, rock formations?_ I freeze and look back at one of said 'rock formations' and feel a shiver crawl up my spine.

"Yes, they're dragon bones."

I jump at the sound of the voice and turn to see Loke wearing a frown, looking at the bones. When my heart calms down enough for me to think, I frown as I take in the sight of the lion spirit. "Loke, what are you doing here?"

He pushes his glasses up his nose and turns to look up through the hole. "There are some things down here you and Natsu need to see, but I wasn't able to tell you about this place. You had to find it for yourself, before I could."

His explanation leaves me even more confused and I intend to ask him what he means when Natsu hits the wool, drawing our attention.

Natsu slides off the wool and growls as he stalks up to me. "I swear if you do that again I'm tying you up and locking you away."

I snort and poke him in his chest. "Need I remind you of what you did yesterday, just to get a stupid flag?"

He pokes me back. "That was two-hundred feet, I handled it easily, the fall we just took was over five-hundred. Luce, not even your scales can save you from a fall that big."

I point back at the wool that stands behind him. "I'm fine, Natsu, I had Aries."

Loke clearing his throat distracts us from our bickering and we turn to see him standing there with his arms crossed as he scowls at us.

"Look, you both were idiots for taking that fall, but thanks to Lucy doing it, I can now explain a few things you need to know about the prophecy."

Our ears perk up and when he knows he has our attention he waves a hand toward a passage I hadn't noticed before.

"Follow me this way, there are a few things you need to see."

We follow him down the tunnel and it's not long before he's leading us out into another larger cavern then the first. The walls of the cavern seem to have been carved by human hands instead of by nature as the walls are completely straight, but that's not what gains my attention.

No, what gains my attention are the carvings lining the walls. Carving upon carving, each with minute detail, tells a story. I walk up to one wall and ignite my hand to see the scene better. The scene itself has an elderly woman wrapped in a brown shawl standing behind a bowl with smoke pouring out of it while on the other side a younger woman adorned in gold resides on a large throne of red and black.

"That scene is of the first time the farseer told the celestial queen of the prophecy." I look to my left when Loke walks up and arch an eyebrow.

"Were you actually there?"

He nods and points to a lion that I first mistook as a statue. "While the carvers took me at face value and portrayed me as the animal my zodiac is called, I was there when the farseer announced the prophecy, but I was also sworn to secrecy so as to not tell the queen of her fate, should my key happen to fall into her hands."

"What do you mean by that?"

Natsu wraps his arms around me as he asks this and we wait for Loke to reply as he looks at the carving.

"The celestial queen that the prophecy was to fall onto, couldn't know about said prophecy until it was proven that she's the one."

Now his words make no sense and Natsu growls. "Loke, I swear to the gods that if you don't stop speaking in riddles, I'm gonna roast you."

The spirit holds his hands up in surrender and gestures at us. "I don't quite understand it myself, but it's something about how fire dragons, especially the royalty, are so possessive over their celestials."

"And?" I prompt as I arch an eyebrow at the playboy.

"As the prophecy says 'the dragon prince will rise and claim his princess.' It has only been the fire dragons who keeps royalty, and only the fire dragons can claim a celestial."

I tilt my head in confusion and he sighs as he pushes his shades up his nose again. "For as long as the Dragon Realm has been around there have always been two groups to lead it, the celestials and the fire dragons. The ability was offered to the other elements, but they agreed that between the level headed and logical thinking of the celestials, and the fiery temper and tactical thinking of the fire dragons, the Dragon Realm would thrive." He stops and walks over to another panel. This one being of a set of dragons bowing down to a bring red dragon and a woman dressed in black and gold robs.

We follow him and this time Natsu ignites his fist for light as Loke continues.

"Over the centuries it became clear that because of the possessiveness of a fire dragon no other element could claim a celestial. Call it protectiveness, call it a bond too strong to separate. When the prophecy came about the spirits and the dragons already knew that it would be a fire dragon and his celestial that would be the answer."

Natsu tightens his hold on me. "I understand why you're telling us this, but why now? Why did we have to find this cavern before you could explain this to us?"

Loke turns around, his rings shining. "Because of this. Regulus Impact!"

He aims the attack at the middle of the cavern and I feel a familiar pull as the attack disappears in mid air.

"Natsu, did you…" My question dies in my throat and I look up to see Natsu watching the middle of the cavern intently.

"Yeah, yeah, I did."

I look back at Loke and see him watching us. "This is the closest and strongest portal to use for when the time comes to fulfill the prophecy. As it is, the portal needs another three years before it will be ready for you to break the seal on it."

We nod in understanding and we all turn our eyes to the ceiling when, even so far underground, we hear the cheers of the crowd.

"It looks like the hour is over, you two should get back to your balcony before they announce the first of the battles."

I smile and Loke disappears with a wave, leaving us in the cavern alone. Natsu pulls away and I turn to see him looking around the cavern, his eyebrows furrowed.

"So, how exactly are we gonna get out of here?"

This time I giggle and when I point at Virgo's symbol he facepalms. "Do you want to call her?"

He shakes his head. "Nah, you call her, I still can't get over how she asks for punishment every time I call her."

I roll my eyes. "Natsu, she's gonna ask for punishment whether it's you or me that calls her."

He scowls and goes to retort but the ground shaking stops him. We turn our gazes to the hole that's opening up a few feet away from us, and I smile when Virgo's head appears.

"Prince, Princess, big brother said that you may need some help returning to the surface?"

I nod and she grabs us by our wrists then leaps back into the hole in the floor. Only a couple minutes later she breaks through and light starts spilling into the makeshift tunnel. When the hole is big enough Virgo steps out into one of the decorated tunnels of the arena and I look over to see we're in the tunnel connecting to our balcony.

"Thank you, Virgo, you may go now."

Virgo bows at Natsu's dismissal and her gate closes, leaving us to walk out onto the balcony. Natsu leans on the balcony and I stand between him and Erza as I take in the sight of Gajeel and Laxus walking out onto the field.

"It's Gajeel and Laxus vs Stele Cad." Erza fills us in and our attention is taken when the bells start counting down.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Gajeel and Laxus stand in front of their balcony as the duo from Stele Cad appears from the tunnel.

The woman on the left stands about five-foot-four. She wears a pair of black skinny jeans, a pair of knee-high stiletto hooker boots; her shirt is a crimson red wrapped a few inches under her breast and is tied around her neck. A black and white rose decal sits over her right breast.

On the right, the woman is almost the complete opposite of her teammate. She's about five-foot-seven, wears a baby blue dress that reaches her ankles and is tucked in at the waist, while white slippers appear as she walks.

The former woman scowls at the dragon slayers while the latter smiles bright enough for it to be seen even in the stands.

Mato raises his hand and the bells ring, signalling the start of the match. Gajeel and Laxus stand still on their side of the arena, watching the Stele Cad team intently and waiting to see what they'll do.

"Hey, Trish, can I try something?"

Trish nods and the woman in the dress moves forward. She winds her hands in front of her and separates them yelling, "Hurricane Force Winds!"

The vortex of air aims at Laxus but before she can blink he's gone and the wind is hitting the ground where he stood, causing chunks of dirt to fly. Gajeel grunts, raising his arm to fend off most of the pieces, and the woman's eyes go wide when she sees Laxus standing in front her.

Laxus scowls. "I'm not up for hitting a woman, unless it's Mira."

The woman frowns and Trish, wearing a sly smirk, watches the lightning slayer in rapt attention, then leans toward her teammate.

"Yoake, let him have it, he won't hit you."

The woman, Yoake, smirks and swings an arm around, hitting Laxus in his chest. He grunts, but otherwise looks unarmed, and Trish scowls.

"Alright, since you want to be like that. Try this on for size." Her eyes glow bright brown and chunks of dirt start rising from the arena. "Seven Layers Metal Smash!"

Again, faster then they can blink Laxus is gone and Gajeel stands in the way of the attack. The spell lands, but instead of doing damage as they had expected, Gajeel grabs the boulders and starts eating them.

"Hey," he yells with his mouth full. "This isn't half bad, ain't nowhere near as good as the shrimp's iron, but still pretty good!"

When the boulders are gone Gajeel grins and turns to Laxus. "I call this one, you handle the wind bag!"

Laxus shrugs and Gajeel turns to Trish. "Thanks for the food, but now we got a match to win."

Trish's eye twitches and she runs forward, jumping and aiming for a roundhouse kick. The iron slayer sees this and huffing, reaches up and grabs her by her boot. He spins on his heel, using her momentum and let's her go flying into the shield.

Yoake scowls and wind begins to gather around her hands as she eyes the lightning slayer. Laxus crosses his arms over his chest and tilts his head in a way that says 'try it and see what happens'.

She jumps forward almost as fast as the wind itself, but Laxus is faster still as he steps out of the way and lets the air mage collide into the shield as well.

"I already told you I won't hit a girl," he grumbles as she gets back to her feet, and she frowns in confusion as she looks up to Fairy Tail B's balcony where Mira watches with Juvia and Jellal.

"But you said earlier that you would hit Mirajane and Mirajane's a woman." The statement sounds more like a question and Laxus starts laughing.

"Oh, yes, Mira is a woman, but that woman is the only one who can kick my ass in a fight."

Yoake nods in understanding and starts pulling her slippers off. Laxus sees this and frowns. "Why the hell are you taking off your shoes?"

The air mage throws them off to the side and looks back at him. "If you'll only hit Mirajane because she can beat you in a fight, then if I'm gonna get a good fight I'm gonna need to beat you first, and in order to do that I don't need shoes restraining me, especially now."

She stamps her feet in a rhythm of sorts and her feet start speeding up until they're just a blur. She moves from her spot and everyone but the slayers have difficulty keeping track of her as she runs around the arena.

Laxus' eyes narrow when Yaoke moves in and he grabs her by her wrist, slinging her around and letting her slam into the shield. She slides down the shield and climbs back to her feet, wiping her lip as she does.

She blurs again and Laxus quickly turns to keep track of her while on the other side of the arena Gajeel is grinning as his iron club smashes through a stone pillar.

Trish scowls and points her fingers at the ground, then drags her hands up and points them at the sky, crossing her arms as she does. "Marble Shield!"

Pillars of marble rise from the ground, crossing in front of her and forming a barrier as defense.

The iron slayer scowls at the barrier but puts his hands in front of his face and takes a deep breath. "Iron Dragon's Roar!"

Metal bits shred through the pillars as easy as a hot knife through butter until all that stands between him and Trish are eight stubs poking from the ground.

Before she has a chance to react he's using another roar and blasting her into the shield where she stays down.

Cheers from the crowd draws the iron slayer's attention and he looks over to see Mato walking out onto the field.

"Both Trish Walker and Yoake Mae of Stele Cad are out, meaning Fairy Tail B wins ten points."

Laxus snorts and Gajeel grins as they walk off the field, leaving the arena officials to clean up the mess and Makarov to grin with pride where he sits in the announcer's booth.

"Well, Makarov, Anything you have to say about that match?"

Makarov grins and looks at Chapati. "Those brats are strong and they know how to use their magic well. They used the opponent's weaknesses against them and won the match."

Chapati nods and looks back at the field. "Well, it looks like Mato is ready with the next battle, so let's get to it."

Mato stands in the field, shield appearing as he clears his throat. "The second battle of the afternoon will be Araña Webb and Risley Law of Mermaid Heel, punkin, against Rocker and Jäger of Quatro Cerberus."

On the Mermaid Heel balcony Araña smirks. "I told you chicas, we'd be fighting this afternoon."

Kagura nods in agreement and Araña and Risley disappear down the tunnel, leaving their teammates to cheer them on as they enter the arena a few minutes later.

On the opposite side of the arena on the Quatro Cerberus balcony Bacchus turns to his teammates.

"Boys, this win is in the bag, because we are…"

"Wild!" the teammates yell back raucously.

Down on the field Rocker and Jäger size up the women of Mermaid Heel as the bells countdown. Mato drops his hand and runs off the field as Araña jumps forward.

"Web Shot!"

Her arms cross before her, with the left one of top and the right one below it, and points her hands, palms towards the ground. Thick web-like roping winds from her hands and releases over a large area in front of her in a series of "shots," which grow larger as they move away from the spot where they're produced.

The webbing strikes Rocker pinning him in place while Jäger avoids the attack. The plant mage throws his hands in front of him, his wrists touching as he shouts, "Vines!"

Thick green vines shoot out from his hands toward the web mage and she counteracts with another set of webs. One vine avoids the webs and grabs her by her ankle, pulling her leg out from under her and knocking her to the ground.

"Flytrap!"

Large green petals rise from the ground threatening to devour the web mage when all of a sudden they drop back to the ground, the weight of the field increasing tenfold.

The attention turns to Risley where she stands off to the side. Her chubby appearance replaced with that of a thinner form.

"If you're gonna go after her, you'll have to get through me!"

Jäger turns his attention to Risley and laughs. "Please, I can take you both by myself."

Risley grins. "Don't look down on the chubby. I'll take you on myself."

Araña stands and looks past her teammate to where Rocker is steadily pulling apart her webs. She moves quickly, dodging the vines and leaving the plant mage to her teammate while aiming another spread of webs at the digging mage.

Rocker dodges the attack and grins when air starts to spin around his legs. "In this wild fight, you can't defeat me."

His feet lift off the ground and the vortex of wind spins similar to a drill as he speeds towards the web mage. He picks up speed and zeroes in on Araña.

Araña smiles and jumps to the side as he goes by. His eyes go wide when he sees his partner flying at him but it's too late to stop Rocker from smashing into Jäger, sending both flying into the shield.

The shield stops them from flying into the crowd and they crumple into a pile on the ground. Risley increases the gravity of the situation, preventing them from moving as Araña gathers a ball of web in her hands.

"Araña, will you hurry up with that already?"

She rolls her eyes in amusement and throws the ball of webbing at the Cerberus boys. The ball explodes and wraps them from head to toe in the sticky fabric like string.

"Relax, chica, they won't be getting out of that any time soon."

True to her word the boys can't escape their bindings no matter how hard they try, and Mato walks out onto the field.

"Quatro Cerberus is no longer able to battle. Mermaid Heel wins the match and ten points!"

Araña turns to Risley and a small smile appears. "See? I told you we'd be winning this match."

Risley returns the smile as they walk to the tunnel leading to their balcony. "Alright, so you were right. What do you think is gonna happen with the next two battles?"

The web mage shrugs and they join their teammates on the balcony to watch as the shield is reinforced and Rocker and Jäger are freed from their bindings.

In the announcer's booth Yajima turns to Makarov. "Alright, Makey, what did you think of how the Mermaid Heel girls played Quatro Cerberus against themselves?"

"It truly was an impeccable fight. The girls managed to work together to not only distract and divide their opponents but also use their opponent's strength against them to win it."

Chapati nods in agreement and they watch as Mato announces the next match.

"The third match of the afternoon will be Jura Neekis and Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale against Ren Akatsuki and Ichiya Kotobuki of Blue Pegasus."

In the tunnel under Lamia Scale's balcony Jura and Lyon walk into the sunlight and the crowd's cheering multiplies. On the opposite side of the arena Ren and Ichiya mirror their movements as they walk to their starting positions.

"Ren, Ichiya, this battle will be one to enjoy that for sure." Jura's comment is complete with a bow of respect to their opponents.

Ren and Ichiya nod in return and they wait for Mato to clear the field before Ren moves.

"Aerial Shot!" The ground cracks and splits, allowing great boulders to rise and shoot at the Lamia Scale mages.

Jura covers his face with his arms and shouts, "Talus!" causing large pillars of stone to shoot from the ground, surrounding both himself and Lyon from the attack.

He looks over his shoulder as Ren's attack hits the wall and Lyon nods as he charges up for an attack.

"Ice Make: Eagle! Ice Make: Dragonfly!"

Eagles made of ice and dragonflies appear around him and fly over the barrier, quickly homing in on the opposing team.

"Power Perfume: Max Men!"

Jura lowers the pillars as Ichiya yells this and they see him grow to three times his size as he takes the attacks head on, destroying all of the ice formations.

"Aerial!"

The air around Lyon starts to darken and the ice mage grabs his throat as he falls to his knees. Jura frowns as he watches this and turns back to the opposing team.

"You may be able to occupy us, but we can't let you win." Jura claps his hands together. "Rumbling Mt. Fuji!"

Pebbles start to shake, the ground starts to rumble, the spectators and teams watching the match alike hold onto something as magic power pulses through the ground in front of the wizard saint. Large amounts of dirt and boulders fly up, causing damage to Ren and Ichiya and freeing his teammate from the air mage's spell.

Ichiya falls back, his stature falling back to normal as the shaking gets worse then fades away. He stands back up and is surprised to find his partner down for the count.

"Well, it seems I must be the one to win this fight, men."

He turns back Lyon and Jura but pales when he sees the large animals made of ice a mere foot in front of him. Instead of screaming and turning tail he pulls out two tubes of perfume and shoves them up his nose.

"Thunder Perfume: Zero Distance Inhalation!"

Lightning flashes from his fingers and he throws the vials away. "It's time to finish this match."

He waves his hands around him as he chants, "Justice Thunder Men!"

The lightning jumps from his fingers and destroys the ice animals in front of him. When the ice shards stop falling he frowns when he doesn't see Jura where he was standing originally.

"Iron Rock Spikes! Iron Rock Powder Explosion!"

Ichiya jumps at the sound of Jura chanting the spells, and before he can react large spires of stone are pinning him in place and the ground is exploding under him, throwing the perfume mage into the air and leaving him unconscious when he hits the ground.

Mato walks onto the field and over to where Ichiya lays out cold. After he checks him he turns to the announcers.

"Ren Akatsuki and Ichiya Kotobuki are unable to continue, Jura Neekis and Lyon Vastia win. Lamia Scale earns ten points."

While the crowd cheers Chapati straightens the toupee on his head. "Well, that was an amazing fight. Lamia Scale put their best into it and came out winners."

"Of course they were gonna win. If you put a wizard saint in the mix, they're bound to win, but I must say Jura and Lyon worked very well together. Their attacks were well placed and even more timely."

Chapati looks at Makarov in surprise. "Makarov, if you don't mind me sounding rude, but it sounds like you knew they were gonna win."

Yajima waves a hand, drawing Chapati's attention. "Whether he knew or he didn't know doesn't matter. The points have been added, Mr. Neekis and Mr. Vastia defeated Blue Pegasus fair and square and now it's time for the final battle. Which, judging from Mato's scared appearance is gonna be a good one."

The announcers look to the field below where the damage has been repaired, the shield reinforced and Mato stands in his typical spot wiping a rag under his helmet.

"For the fourth day of the games we've, punkin, saved the best for last." Makarov tenses as a thought occurs to him and when Mato confirms his fear he pales significantly. "The final match will be between Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail Team A, against Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney of Sabertooth."

On the Fairy Tail balcony Natsu turns to Lucy and grins. "You ready, Luce?" Lucy returns his smile and they walk into the tunnel.

Natsu chuckles and Lucy tilts her head, looking up at her mate. "What are you happy about?"

"Because I'm curious to see how you'll do against Sting and Rogue, and I have a feeling you'll end up kicking their asses by youself."

Lucy scowls as they step into the arena. Across the field Sting wears his arrogant smirk while Rogue hangs back, his expression cautious as he watches the couple.

"Sting," the light slayer turns back to his partner when he murmurs his name and arches an eyebrow. "I don't think you should take this fight head on like you have been."

Sting shakes his head in amusement and smirks. "Relax, Rogue, there's no way we can lose."

Rogue frowns in concern but their attention is dragged back when the bells start tolling.

Mato runs off the field and the shadow slayer watches in apprehension as Natsu smirks and takes a few steps back letting Lucy have room. Sting smirks and walks forward.

"You know, Blondie, you may want to move out of the way and let the pinky have the floor."

Natsu starts laughing at his remark and his eyes move from Lucy to the fire slayer, his smirk falling slightly as confusion takes hold. Only then does he hear the sound of the whip cracking as it wraps around his ankle. He yelps and before he knows what's happening he's being thrown across the field and into the shield.

Growling, he climbs to his feet and glares at the blonde as she wears a righteous grin, her whip already back at her side. She tilts her head, her expression innocent as she asks, "Are you sure you want him to take the floor? 'Cause I'm sure you couldn't even handle me."

He chances a glance at his partner and sees him shaking his head then turns back to Lucy and rolls his shoulders, his arrogant grin settling back easily enough.

"Alright, if that's how you want to be. White Dragon's Roar!"

The attack engulfs the blonde and they lose all sight of her until the attack fades. Then his grin completely drops, because she's still standing in the same spot as when the attack hit and with smoke curling off her arms she grins, three spirits at her side.

"You call that an attack? Ha, I can do better than that. Virgo, Gemini, now!"

He looks down when the ground starts shaking and he gulps when a black hole appears under him, then he's engulfed in darkness. When his feet hit dirt he looks up and a groan escapes him at the sight of the opening so far above him.

Meanwhile, at ground level, Lucy ducks a shadow roar from Rogue and then looks at Natsu. He nods and counteracts Rogue's roar with his own as Lucy and Loke jump down the hole Virgo and Gemini sunk Sting in.

"Open Gate of the Golden Bull:Taurus! Star dress: Taurus!"

Golden light shines in the darkness of the tunnel and Lucy dodges the beam of light when she hits the bottom of the tunnel.

"Ms. Luucy, I'm glad to. see yoou and your moovelous boobs again."

Lucy rolls her eyes but otherwise pays no attention to the perverted cow spirit's comments as she and Loke run at the slayer. Sting's hands start to glow and Lucy dodges a punch then swings with her own, knocking Sting into the wall of the tunnel.

When Sting gets back up Loke goes to jump at him but Lucy stops him by holding her arm out. Loke looks at his summoner in confusion and she smiles.

"I wanna see what I can do."

Loke is hesitant but finally gives in, staying back as Lucy steps forward and grabs Sting by his wrist, the white glow of his magic disappearing almost immediately on contact.

Lucy looks over her shoulder as she gains a better hold on Sting. "Taurus, batter up and out!"

Taurus snorts and grins, spinning his axe in his hands as Lucy throws the light slayer at him. He swings his axe, smacking the light slayer up the tunnel and back into the daylight where he slams into the ground.

The bull spirit turns back to Lucy and she steps on his axe, allowing him to toss her up and out of the tunnel, Loke following her steps. When Lucy is sure that Sting is staying put for a minute she turns back to the hole in enough to see Taurus climb his way out.

She turns back to viewing the field and frowns when she sees Natsu playing with Rogue. While the shadow slayer looks pretty roughed up Natsu is giving nowhere near his all and she doesn't like it. She scowls, ready to go over and smack some sense into the fire slayer.

While she's distracted watching Natsu she misses the sight of the light slayer getting up until a light roar hits her and sends her flying. She hits the shield and the wind is knocked out of her hard enough for her to see stars.

A groan escapes her and she curls into a ball, trying to regain her breath as she feels a blast of sweltering heat overhead. When she feels a hand on her arm she casts a quick glance to see it's Natsu standing over her.

"Luce, you okay?"

She nods and he backs off as she slowly stretches and climbs to her feet. When her eyes land on the light slayer, where he stands smirking on the other side of the arena, she snarls. The beginnings of flames start to appear around her hands and she takes a step toward to the light slayer.

Natsu sees this and quickly steps in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders and speaks to her in a tone low enough for just her to hear.

"Luce, remember we promised Gramps we wouldn't show our magic, and we don't break our promises."

The heat in her hands dies down and Natsu steps back, allowing her to resume her walk toward Sting. Sting's smirk melts away when he takes in the look of murder she wears and his gaze flicks to where Rogue stands off to the side, worry and fear flashing briefly. Rogue shakes his head, having already warned his partner, but does nothing to stop the blonde fireball.

When she's close enough she cracks her knuckles. "You think you can try something like that and get away with it? This match is over."

Faster than the slayers can blink Lucy's standing where Sting was and Sting is sliding down the shield, having been kicked into it. He grins and stands back up.

"You know, Blondie, you talk a lot of trash but you really can't back it up."

Natsu flinches at the trash talk, however, does nothing to stop Lucy, her anger being too much for even him to want to stop her.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I can't believe he just said that. I step forward, my anger trying to get the best of me and dodge his punch. When I return the swing I hit hard enough that I see a tear fall from the corner of his eye before he's blown back into the shield again.

He gets up again but I'm grabbing him by his jacket and throwing him across the clearing before he has the chance to retaliate. I stop when I recognize the feeling of lightning flooding my veins and take a deep breath so I don't lose control but, unfortunately, it gives Sting a chance to recover his senses and next thing I know I'm jumping back to avoid a kick.

The smirk is infuriating, but I'm used to that type of look from Natsu so that isn't what really pushes my buttons. No, that would be the fact that he's an ass. Sure, Weisslogia was somewhat of an ass, but Sting takes it to a different level with the arrogance.

A white glow draws my attention and I raise my right arm, knocking back his fist, and swing my left, packing the punch with a burst of lightning to make him jump.

And jump he does.

He jumps fifty feet backward, rubbing his chest where a large bruise is already forming.

I smirk. "What's the matter, Blondie, you can talk but you can't back it up?"

He looks stunned when I throw his words back at him but I don't give him the chance to think as I grab him by his vest and throw him in the air.

"Open! Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!"

Scorpio appears in front of me, standing next to Taurus, and I scowl as I point at the still falling Sting. "I need you to use your combined attack on him, please."

They nod, Loke having already told Scorpio of what Sting pulled, and Scorpio whips up the sand quickly enough for Taurus to get a good charge.

"Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran!"

The attack hits Sting and when he hits the ground he doesn't get up again. I turn to watch Natsu finish his fight with Rogue, after I thank my spirits, and I'm vaguely aware of Chapati saying that Sting is out of the fight.

I look up at the clock and dread crawls up my spine when I see only ten minutes left. Thinking quickly, I run up to Natsu and he looks down at me in surprise.

"We have to finish this quickly, there's not much time left." His eyes shoot up to the clock and he nods.

"Any ideas?"

My mind churns with ideas until I finally settle on such an easy idea that I smirk as soon as I see the possibility.

"You up for a King's Roar?"

He looks at me in surprise and I nod, confirming his suspicion, then he grins. "You know I always am."

I take a deep breath and move away from him, my eyes never leaving Rogue as I walk until I'm standing and facing Rogue's left.

I grab my fleuve d'étoiles and with a flick of my wrist it cracks through the air. The second time I flick my wrist, strands of fire wind around the watery rope and Rogue turns to watch me, giving Natsu the distraction he needs.

Swinging the whip, it wraps around Rogue's ankle, keeping him in place as Natsu puts his hands up for the roar.

"Fire Dragon King's Roar!"

The heat is so hot that I notice the walls of the arena start to melt by the time Natsu lets the spell go. When the smoke clears Rogue looks like a burnt fish and I pull back my whip as I see Rogue fall. I look at Natsu, a sigh of relief escaping me, and see him grinning at me in return.

When Mato steps onto the field, our attention goes to him as he clears his throat. "Sting and Rogue of Sabertooth are unable to continue, Natsu and Lucy of Fairy Tail Team A win ten points."

"See, Luce, I told you, you could do it." Arms wrap around my waist and I giggle as Natsu spins me through the air.

"Yes, you were right, now set me down, baka."

He does as I ask and I turn to see him watching the screens as the scores are posted. I look up as well and smile when I see our team in first place.

 _Fairy Tail A—74_

 _Fairy Tail B—70_

 _Sabertooth—56_

 _Lamia Scale—50_

 _Mermaid Heel—33_

 _Blue Pegasus—26_

 _Stele Cad—24_

 _Quatro Cerberus—24_

"Attention, fans, day five of the games will be a rest day so the teams can recuperate for the final two days, so we will be seeing you the day after tomorrow."

I look up at Natsu as Chapati's announcement to see him grinning. "Good, we could use a day to ourselves." Then he looks down at me. "What do you say we go ahead and get out of here?"

When I nod he grabs me by the hand and pulls me into the tunnels, myself too happy to even try to complain.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

While Natsu and Lucy go off to enjoy their day off, over in the Dragon Realm things are not so happy.

In the dining room of the castle in the capital, the queen and the dragons, minus Celeste, are talking about the outcome of the battle. On one side of the long dining room table, where the lacrima shows the arena in Earthland, Igneel is glaring at a certain light and shadow dragon as he holds out a hand.

"A bet's a bet and you two lost. Now, pay up!"

Weisslogia snorts and cross his arms over his chest. "The only reason Natsu and Lucy won is because she cheated."

"Cheated my ass, Lucy is one of the most honest people in the realms, certainly very much more honorable than that arrogant jackass you call a son." Igneel growls, the table where he slammed his palm down starting to smoke.

The light dragon growls in return. "What did you call my son, you overgrown lava pit?"

"You heard me, you dim lightbulb!"

Weisslogia sets his hands on the table, ready to jump Igneel, but all the dragons freeze when Queen Layla slams her palms down on the table.

"Igneel, Weisslogia, that is enough! Natsu and Lucy won fair and square, there was no cheating involved. If anything, Weisslogia," she glares at the light dragon and her voice drops to a spine chilling low, "your son cheated when he went after Lucy while her back was turned. Now, you and Skiadrum will pay out your bet or so help me you'll lose access to the mountains on the edge of Water Territory."

The light and shadow dragons share a look and grumble as they reach into a pocket of their suits and each pulls out a brown inconspicuous looking bag.

They open the bags and reach shoulder deep into them, looking for something in particular. When they find the items they pull them out, with Light pulling out a large burlap sack of fire rubies, each the size of a chicken egg. Shadow, on the other hand, pulls out a chest as large as a chair and sets it on the ground in front of him.

He opens it to reveal it filled to the brim with gold coins. The fire dragon's eyes glow with the greed that is known by all dragons, but a throat being cleared snaps him out of it and he turns to the maid that suddenly appears at his side.

"Yes, take the queen's cut to the vault and take the rest to my room for the time being."

The maid nods in acknowledgement and Igneel looks back at the twin dragons to find them watching him and the queen in shock.

Queen Layla doesn't look the least bit sheepish under their gazes, in fact she seems to glow from the fact that she tricked the jokers of the Dragon Realm as she arches an eyebrow at them.

"Are you two okay?"

Weisslogia goes to snap something but Skiadrum slams his hand over the light dragon's mouth and replies instead. "My Queen, I thought you didn't partake in such bets."

The queen's gaze turns to a motherly look as she looks up to the lacrima screen where Natsu and Lucy can be seen running down a road.

"Normally I don't, but this time I knew without a doubt my daughter and son-in-law would win ."

The dragons quiet down at the statement and each take on a different look as their thoughts turn to the spirited mages, each expression ranging from hopeful to soft and sweet, the dragons present have indeed been affected by Natsu and Lucy.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I just know that they're gonna open those portals sooner than we think and we'll soon be able to roam Earthland again."

They nod in agreement with Acnologia's words and soon the dragons wander off to go take care of other business, their viewing time over for the day.

* * *

 **Wanna know something funny?**

 **Fanfiction likes to correct fleuve d'étoiles to fleece toilets.**

 **Just thought you'd want to know that fun fact since it is really funny.**

 **Anyway, down to business. Did y'all like the chapter? I think I did a pretty good job with writing this one out. Especially the slayer fights. Those were really fun, though I'd have to say the Lamia Scale/ Blue Pegasus fight is up there in my favorites list, if only for the fact that no matter how weak Ichiya may seem he's actually really strong with quite a few spells to work with.**

 **Don't get me wrong. Ichiya is still disgusting, just plain weird, and I'd rather use him as an evil character like I'm doing in Crews but I think if I had to use him in a fight again it's turn out to be a pretty fun fight.**

 **Which I should probably add that Jura and Lyon have tons and tons of spells to go through. Like seriously I didn't think they had that many and yet I pull them up on the wiki and my eyes bugged for a good five minutes just going through their spells to pick out some good ones.**

 **Before you ask, I don't like coming up with spells for Lyon since his ice make is dynamic. It's a lot easier to write Gray's inanimate form of ice magic. More freedom to do what I want. For istance during day 1 Gray used a spell called 'Ice make: Demon's Revenge' way too easy to come up with. Where as I sat in front of the computer for an hour trying to think of a spell for Lyon before I finally gave up and went to the wikia.**

 **But I'm rambling. Y'all know the deal. Make sure you review and if you haven't already make sure you fave and follow for more.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Anyone up for a game of soccer?**


	23. The Day of Rest

**Hey y'all, I'm back with another chapter of DKQ. Now before we move I have to say I love y'all. Wanna know why? This story has over 100 reviews. I've only had that happen one time before and that was with the co-op I did with Stele.**

 **Even as I look at the stats I can't believe it. The story idea I came up with back around the time I was writing TOTD has exploded into what you see here. It's just truly incredible and I have y'all to thank for it.**

 **But that's enough out of me, it's time to see what Natsu and Lucy do on the day of rest.**

* * *

Chapter 23

The Day of Rest

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I wake up to the feeling of something poking my cheek so I crack open an eyelid and can barely make out Luce leaning over me, her hand covering her mouth to hide a giggle. When she goes to poke my cheek again I grab her by the wrist and pull her down onto the bed and into my arms. She squeals and I chuckle as I nuzzle into her neck.

"Glad to see you're finally up."

I hum at her words and kiss her cheek then her lips.

She smiles into the kiss and I finally open my eyes, only to feel like I'm falling into the dark chocolate depths of her eyes. No matter how many times I look into her eyes I know I will never stop feeling like I'm falling for her all over again. I lean into her neck again and she runs a hand through my hair. When I start purring she pauses for only a second then picks up again.

Eventually, she pulls away and when she goes to get back up my hold on her tightens.

"Natsu, let go, I wanna go to the park today."

I groan in mock annoyance and pull her back to me. "I don't wanna get up, why can't we just spend the day in bed?"

This time she sets one hand on my chin, the other on my shoulder, and I jump when a bolt of lightning runs through me. If it was anyone but Luce my glare would've burned a hole through them, but as it is all she does is laugh as I pick myself up off the floor.

"Why are you so mean?"

She rolls onto her stomach, laying down with her head on her arms and pouts. "I wanna go to the park today, since we don't have to worry about the games."

Frowning, I tilt my head in confusion. "But, Luce, why couldn't you go by yourself?"

She scowls. "Because I would like to spend some time with my mate that's somewhere other than bed."

"You don't have any complaints about what we do in bed," I remark with an arched eyebrow and the small blush she's sporting explodes across her face as she sits up.

"Natsu, please?"

My smirk melts into a real smile and I give in without a second thought. "Yeah, Luce, we can go hang out at the park today…" I don't even get to finish my statement when she runs me over to get to the closet.

I roll over and climb to my feet as she starts rummaging through the closet and I catch the clothes she throws at me.

Half an hour later we're walking through the gates of the park and I watch as Luce walks over to a tree to settle down with a book. I follow her and when I sit down next to her I pull her into my lap. She squeaks but eventually settles down. Setting my chin on her shoulder, I nuzzle my nose into her neck and watch as she turns page after page.

The book in her hands holds no interest for me so I spend the time people watching. From the kids throwing a frisbee around to the elderly couple sitting on a bench and tossing birdseed to a flock of birds gathering around their feet. Then my ears pick up the familiar sound of metal clashing on metal and I turn my head to see Erza and Ice Prick walking toward us while all four Exceeds fly overhead.

I watch them curiously as they get closer but don't bother to say anything until Luce closes her book and smiles at them.

"Morning, Erza. Morning, Gray."

Erza nods. "Good morning to you too, Lucy, and you, Natsu."

I wave at them and keep an ear on the conversation while going back to watching the park.

"What are you and Natsu doing here today?"

I hear Luce set her book down and she leans back against me before she answers. "I wanted to come to the park today and I finally got him to agree."

When I huff she lightly elbows me the side and I roll my eyes.

"What's up with Flame Brain lately? He's not usually this reluctant to do anything, or actually this quiet."

His words kind of piss me off so I turn my attention from the group of kids that were climbing a tree to glare at him. "Just because I don't feel like kicking your ass today, Stripper, doesn't mean I can't."

Luce lays a hand on my arm as I say this, glaring at the stripper even as he watches me.

A weight settles on my head and I look up to see Clare sitting in my hair, watching the exchange and holding a small book under one arm. She bends down so that she's looking at me and shoves the book in my face.

"Natsu, what's soccer?"

I rub my head where she slammed the book in my face and take it from her paws, looking at it in confusion.

"I don't know, Clare, I've never heard of it before."

She scowls and I look down when I feel Luce move around in my lap. "Let me see the book before you burn it."

I lay the book in her outstretched hand and look up again when I feel yet another weight on my head. "Hey, buddy, what's up?"

He pulls a fish out of his bag, then takes a bite out of it and pouts. "Carla wouldn't take my fish."

"Relax, buddy, one day she'll take it, you just have to keep trying."

He finally perks up at my words and I turn my attention back to Luce when I hear the words 'game' and 'challenge'.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

"If there's a challenge you can count me in!"

I look back at the declaration to see Natsu grinning as he watches me and roll my eyes.

"Baka, do you even know what we're talking about?"

His grin fades as he looks from me to the book in my hands. Then he raises a hand to the back of his head, his expression hesitant. "Uh, soccer is a game or challenge?"

When I nod he relaxes and I tap the page that Clare opened the book to. "Soccer, or football as it's called in some counties, is a game where you have two teams with several players. The players aren't allowed to use their hands to move the ball, instead relying mainly on their feet and legs to move it across the field and into a goal. The only players allowed to actually touch the balls with their hands are the goalkeepers who prevent the opposite team from kicking the ball into the goal."

He nods and looks up at Gray. "What do you say, Stripper? Wanna give it a try?"

Gray snorts. "And just where the hell do you think we're gonna find a soccer ball?"

"Or goals," I add.

He points at me. "Seriously, Flame Brain, we can't play without either."

Natsu goes to retort but Erza cuts him off. "Actually, I do believe I have a soccer goalie outfit I purchased about a year ago."

We watch as she starts to glow and when it settles I'm shocked to see that she wears a red and gold jersey marked with the number '00' on the front and back.

She rolls the soccer ball from under her foot and kicks it up, bouncing it off her knee for it to land in her arms.

I clear my throat and look back at the boys. "Okay, we have a soccer ball so now we need a couple of goals. Gray, think you can make those?" I tilt the book, showing him the picture of a goal as I ask this.

After a few minutes he shrugs. "I don't see why not, it may take a little more magic since I haven't done it before, but it's possible."

Closing the book, I stand up and hand it back to Clare. "The final thing we'll need is a large field, but that shouldn't be too hard to find around here."

As Natsu stands up I see him grin. "Hey Luce, how about we get some extra people included in this game?"

I tilt my head in confusion and he grabs me by my shoulders and turns me around. Understanding shoots through me and I smile when I see Sting and Rogue walking up with their Exceeds close behind.

"Morning, Sting, morning, Rogue!"

Sting smirks and Rogue smiles a genuine smile when I call out to them.

When they get closer, Rogue greets us in return. "Good morning, Lucy, Natsu. What are you doing this morning?"

"We were just about to go find a field to play soccer, you guys wanna come?"

They share a look at Natsu's question and shrug.

"Don't see why not, it sounds like fun."

I smile at their answer and we resume our walk down the trail.

After another ten minutes we come across a field large enough for the game and when everyone agrees, Gray and Clare move off to one side to try and create the goals.

After they're finished Clare flies over to me and opens the book to a different page. "Lucy, it says there's supposed to be a certain border drawn along the field, how are we going to set that up?"

I arch an eyebrow as I look it over and look up at the Exceed. "Uh, Clare, you do realize we don't have to do this for a game like we're gonna play, right?"

The book is snatched from her hands and we both turn to see Natsu looking at the diagram. He looks at it for a whole minute then hands it back to Clare and rolls his shoulders.

"Alright, Clare, you want an official looking field, you got one."

He walks to the middle of the field and lines up his fist as if he was meditating. Fire forms around his feet and blows out in ever increasing circles. It seems to follow a pattern, as only a line of a certain width is burnt in the grass. The line spreads out on one side of the field and races toward the goals where it then makes a turn, running around the goals and down the opposite side. When it meets back up it races back toward Natsu and disappears, leaving only the black track in it's wake.

I look back at Clare as she flies higher and I hear her squeal before she zooms forward, crashing into Natsu. The impact makes him fall onto his ass and I giggle as I watch him scratch her head. I walk up to them and pull Natsu up while Clare calls her wings and floats above us.

Natsu looks up at the Exceed and grins. "I take it you like it, Clare?"

The Exceed floats down until she's floating next to our heads and smiles. "Oh, yes, yes, I like it very much, thank you, Natsu."

"Oi, Flame Brain!"

We look over when Gray calls Natsu and watch as everyone walks up. They wear different expressions but the one thing in common is they can't believe what they just saw.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

"Natsu, how did you do that?"

I look over at Sting when he asks this and grin. "It's easy to make your element do what you want when you focus."

When Erza clears her throat we look at her and she holds up the ball. "Are we gonna play or are we just gonna stand here and ask questions all day? I, for one, would like to play."

Ice Princess and the slayers look sheepish, but thankfully Luce gets the metaphorical ball rolling by snatching the ball from Erza.

"Right, who wants to be goalie?"

Erza starts walking toward a goal and Rogue walks toward the other, leaving Luce and I to pair up against the stripper and Sting. Then Luce stops.

She looks around, a frown marring her features, and I follow her gaze to where the Exceeds sit on the sidelines. She walks over to them, asks them a question and a minute later all six Exceeds are following her onto the field.

"The Exceeds are the referees, to make sure we have a fair game and no tripping." She glares at me as she says this and I look away, whistling a happy tune.

Unfortunately, the way I choose to look also has a certain light slayer watching the exchange in amusement.

Out the corner of my eye I see her hand the ball to Carla and we walk to the side of the field where Erza is acting as goalie while Sting and Gray cover the other side.

We stand at the ready and watch as Carla hovers over the middle. She looks at our side then the other and holds it over her head. "First side to score five goals wins, and no magic is to be used. A foul results in the loss of a goal score."

She drops the ball and even before it hits the ground Sting and I are locking legs trying to kick it to our teammate. I manage to knee it in the air and knock it backward with my head.

I step back and Sting stumbles forward but catches himself as I see Luce kicking past me and dodging the stripper. Skirting the light slayer, I sprint to catch up and she kicks the ball to me as Emo Ice steps in her way.

What I don't see until it's too late, is Sting swinging his leg around and kicking the ball away and out my grip. I growl and spin, trying to catch up to him, and smirk when I see Luce kick it away and toward me.

Sensing Sting and the stripper on my tail, I kick the ball into the air, knee it higher and hit it back at Luce with my head. She takes the hint and catches quick enough to get past Sting and Gray. She puts on a speed boost, non magical of course, and gets in close enough to the goal to have Rogue on his toes.

I bolt in between Sting and the nude polar bear and Luce passes me the ball. I look back to see the other side gaining and when I look at Rogue I grin when I see the opening he leaves. The left corner of the goal, he's aiming for the side I'm running at so I take the chance and spin the ball at Luce.

She kicks it with the tip of her foot and it jumps right past Rogue into the goal.

We stop a few feet from the goal and I grin as we watch Rogue hold up the ball. He holds it over his head and throws at Sting who kicks it at Emo Ice and they bolt down the field to Erza.

Taking off after them, I have to stop in my tracks when I see Luce slide under Sting, stealing the ball away from him and run down the field at me. Apparently no one saw it coming either as they stop as well and watch _my_ golden goddess run down the field, wearing a wicked grin.

I shake my head in amusement and turn on my heel, quickly catching up to her and the ball. We look ahead and I can see that Rogue's gotten over his shock as well, since he's closely watching Luce and the ball.

She kicks the ball at the goal and this time Rogue blocks it. It rolls out of the goal zone and Popsicle is quick to pick it up and send it flying back down the field.

I run after him and manage to bump his shoulder hard enough for him to spin the ball off and right into Luce. Unfortunately, with Sting right on her, she kicks the ball into the air and back at me.

I growl in annoyance at the two numbskulls and knee the ball out of Gray's reach. He hooks his foot around my ankle and sends me to the ground hard enough for me to bite my tongue. I jump up and spit the glob of blood in my mouth out then turn on him.

"What the hell was that for, you dirt clod?"

He actually smirks. "Oops, didn't see you there."

The vein in my forehead throbs and I jump, slamming him into the ground hard enough to make a small crater. He tries to get up and I slam his head into the ground again.

"Natsu, stop, it's just a game!"

I hear Luce but I don't let up until I feel someone pick me up by the back of my shirt. I look down and I see about a foot of space between my feet and the ground and turning my head, see Lily's the one holding me up.

"Lily, let me go." He scowls when I growl but doesn't follow the order.

"No, Natsu, you need to cool down. What Gray did was uncalled for but you didn't need to go as far you did." His words make sense but the irrational part of me still wants to make Ice Prick pay.

A blue glow draws my attention and I look over to see Lucy healing his nose and smirk when I realize I broke it, at least until she turns and walks over to me. I cross my arms and look away when she gets closer. I know I'm being childish but at this point I don't care, in the words of a five year old, Ice Princess started it.

Then she grabs my chin and makes me look at her. She's scowling but I can see the confusion and pain in her eyes and I relax enough for her to set her hand over my mouth and heal it. What I didn't realize is that several of my teeth were also knocked loose when I fell. At least I didn't realize it until I feel them straighten back out.

She pulls her hand away, wiping the blood that had ran off my lip and onto her hand on her pants afterwards and I run my tongue over my teeth trying to get rid of the metallic taste.

Lily sets me back down but he doesn't let go as Clare hands me a water bottle and Erza walks up.

"Natsu, I'm very disappointed…" I tune her out after that and focus on trying to wash the blood out of my mouth. When I no longer taste copper I tune back in to catch the last part of her lecture, which surprisingly is that I take over her goal post while Ice Dick takes Rogue's.

Lily let's me go then and I walk over to the goal where Erza was standing while the others go back to their starting positions.

While I do grumble for the first few minutes of the game the excitement eventually grabs me as well and I get back into good spirits soon enough to stop Sting from making a goal and throw the ball to Luce so she can sprint the ball down the field and score the final point needed to win.

By the time we're done playing the sun is close to setting and we're ready to return to the inn.

* * *

 **I know this chapter is shorter then they have been lately but by the time I finished this it was past midnight last night so I just went ahead and wrapped it up.**

 **Anyway, earlier I said that I have y'all the readers to thank for making this story so popular but there is also another person I have to thank for willingly putting up with my wacky computer hours and being able to edit them for me.**

 **Stele, I know I put you through a lot of shit when it comes to trying to stay on top of my stories and I know you have a busy life, but I have to say thank you. Without you there to go through my nonsense the chapters wouldn't be as good as they are. I don't say it enough and I tend to be more scatterbrained then a squirrel in spring but thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.**

 **Y'all are probably gonna hate me for this but this story only has a handful of chapters left. That's right, this story is about to wrap up. TBH I've had fun writing this story and I don't wanna see it end, but look at it this way. The end is truly a beginning. While one story ends another stands ready to sweep you away.**

 **If you're a new reader make sure you not only fave and follow this story but me as well so you'll get to see what I have planned next. If you're an old reader, y'all know the deal. Make sure you leave a review letting me know what you think.**

 **That goes for you new readers as well. :D**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	24. Day 6 Part 1

**Hey y'all, I'm back! And I actually have a chapter for you this week. Before y'all move on to reading it I just wanted to say thanks for being so understanding. But now with school out for spring break I can put more of my time to try and get ahead with chapters. Key word: Try.**

 **Anyway go read the chapter and I'll see y'all at the end.**

* * *

Chapter 24

Day 6 Part 1

 **Normal P.O.V.**

~ Day of the preliminaries ~

Darkness clings to the cavern, shadows stretching and shrinking as a group of three walk through the cavern of bones. In the hand of one sits a small yellow ball, giving off the light, sparse as it may be, needed to see the cavern.

The group walks on in silence, only stopping when they come across the tunnel leading to the next cavern. The male holding the ball of light waves it down the tunnel.

"There you are, boss, this leads to the cavern."

The boss, as he's called, steps into the light to reveal a man of about six-foot with short spiked auburn hair and eyes that are a startling light blue. The man has a roguish look with a five o'clock shadow and dressed in a black trench coat that stops at his knees. Underneath that he wears what is to be described as a dress vest and black slacks that disappear under black working boots. Hanging from the pocket of his vest, a golden chain can be seen in the light.

They walk down the tunnel to the cavern and the boss turns in a full circle, taking in the cavern from what he can make of it in the dark.

"Jace, are the charging lacrimas above in place yet?"

He turns to the third man who has long slick blonde hair and watches as he touches two fingers to his head and his eyes gain a faraway look. A couple seconds later Jace shakes his head. "They'll be done in about an hour."

Bossman scowls. "I want it done in fifteen minutes. They need to have time for the camouflaging to take effect so those slayers don't see them."

Jace nods and his eyes gain that faraway look while the first man frowns in thought.

"Boss, are you sure you found the slayers from the prophecy?"

At the question Bossman pulls a miniature lacrima from his pocket and holds it out, palm up so that images appear above it. All of the images are of a certain blonde and her pink-haired partner, sometimes together and sometimes solo shots, but all are of activities they've done going as far back as the s-class mission.

"Oh, yes, I'm quite positive we have the right slayers," he chuckles darkly and the images disappear as he slides the lacrima back into his pocket. "And when it comes time those slayers are gonna help us break the seal, whether they want to or not."

His expression becomes serious again and he looks around the cavern, his thoughts elsewhere. "Jace, I want the retaining lacrima set up down here before the start of the Games. Come along, Edward, it's time for us to see if the dragons did well with teaching these mages."

Jace salutes and the man with the light in his hand, Edward, follows his boss back into the tunnel.

"Um, boss, if I may ask, how do you know so much about these slayers if you've never met them?"

Bossman chuckles again and rubs a hand over the stubble on his chin. "Layla Heartfilia tried to keep her little 'Lucky Lucy' away from the world after she and the dragons retreated into the dragon realm, but it didn't stay that way for long. Little 'Lucky Lucy' met a fire dragon and joined that annoying guild, Fairy Tail."

Edward stops as the information clicks and his grin copies his boss's. "So if Lucy Heartfilia is the key, how do you plan on getting both down here to break the seal?"

The shadows on the other side of the bone cavern encroach, and Edward watches as his boss cracks his knuckles, the sound bouncing off the stone and echoing through the cavern. "That, Edward, will all be answered at the end of the Games."

~ Present Day ~

Lucy jumps up from her pillows, her hair is plastered to her forehead, her heart is beating, and she's gasping for breath as if she just ran a marathon. When her heart returns to beating a normal rhythm she looks over at Natsu to make sure she didn't wake him up then slowly climbs out of bed.

She walks to the bathroom and turns the light on to look at herself in the mirror, unsure of what exactly woke her up.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I rub my arms to try and get the gooseflesh to disappear but everytime it does a cheshire grin flashes through my mind. I can't remember anything as to why I woke up the way I did, but I can't shake the feeling that something is coming.

I jump when arms wrap around my waist and turning around, lean my head on Natsu's shoulder.

"What's got you so worked up?"

My body starts to tremble as I try to remember the nightmare that woke me but every time it's in my grasp it slips through my fingers like water.

"Luce, come on, you know you can tell me anything."

It's not a question but I nod anyway and feel his grip tighten. Finally, I take a deep breath and manage to get my nerves under control enough to murmur into his shoulder.

"I'm scared, Natsu, I don't know why, I don't know how, but I just have a feeling that something bad is gonna happen, and soon."

"So I'm not the only one then." His shoulders relax only slightly and I look up at him in surprise to see his eyes on me and his expression serious. "I've been getting this feeling like something ain't sitting right, but every time I try to grab hold of it, it goes away."

I press my nose into his neck again and the smell of camp fires and spice that is him calms me down. Something nags at the back of my mind but I ignore it in favor of yawning.

He chuckles. "Come on, weirdo, worrying is gonna get us nowhere. We still have a few hours before we have to get up for the Games, why don't we see if we can use it to get some sleep?"

He picks me up princess style and I hear the switch click for the light before he walks back to the bed and lays me down in it. When he lays down next to me I cling to him and he runs a warm hand over my back, the feeling so soothing that soon my eyes are closing and I fall back asleep.

This time while I sleep I don't dream and when the alarm clock wakes me up I glare at it over Natsu's shoulder as he reaches behind him to turn it off. He rolls over, taking me with him so that I'm laying on his chest with one leg wrapped in between his and continue glaring at the horrible machine saying that we have to get up.

"Luce, no matter how much you glare at the clock it's not gonna change. We still have to get up."

I arch an eyebrow at his words and grin. "Wanna bet?"

His eyes narrow warily and I look back at the clock. My eyes furrow in concentration and a minute later the clock fizzes as it bursts into flames, ice grows from the screen, and sparks can be seen jumping out of it.

When the flames disappear I hear a whistle and look down at Natsu to see him frowning. "You definitely are _not_ a morning person, that's for sure."

My cheeks puff out as I pout. "I can't understand how you like being up early, it's a pain in the ass."

I feel his hands heat up where they rest on my hips and I lay my head down on his chest while they rub up and down my back.

"Well, unlike some people, I like to use the morning to actually get up and train. Which, we should really be getting up before Erza comes knocking."

I hum in response, even as my eyelids start falling closed again and turn my head so that my ear is pressed flat against him and I can hear his heartbeat.

"Hey, Luce?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember yesterday morning?"

I nod absentmindedly at his murmured question, too wrapped up in his heat, and miss the static forming around his fingers until a large bolt surges through me and I jump off the bed.

If looks could kill, my mate would be ash by now from the glare I'm giving him, but all the jackass does is grin from where he _still_ sits in the bed. He crawls to the edge of the bed and arches an eyebrow.

"What's the matter, Luce? Don't like a taste of your own medicine?"

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

The growl is the only notice I get to roll out of the way and dodge her outstretched hands as she jumps at me.

"Natsu, when I get my hands on you, you're..."

I arch an eyebrow and my smirk is smug. "I'm gonna what, Luce? Face it, you can't hurt me, you love me too much."

Okay, definitely the wrong thing to say to her this early in the morning, because the next thing I know Virgo has me bound in magic canceling ropes and they're hanging me from the ceiling fan.

After Luce thanks the spirit she returns to the spirit realm and my smirking mate disappears into the bathroom, leaving me to hanging. Finally, I resort to my secret weapon.

"Lushi! I'm sorry, can you please let me down?"

She steps out of the bathroom as she adjusts her belt and glares at me. "No, Natsu."

So whimpering won't help me, time for Plan B: whining and the look.

A whine builds at the back at my throat, drawing her attention, and I give her the biggest puppy dog eyes in all of Earthland. I can see her resolve start to crumble and I inwardly grin, my victory assured.

Then someone knocks on the door and all chances of me getting out this mess early is thrown out the window as Luce turns away, opening the door to reveal Erza, Wendy, and the stripper.

Ice Freak looks from me to Luce and back at me while Erza arches an eyebrow.

"Lucy, why is Natsu tied to the ceiling?"

"Oh, no reason you should worry about. Gray, can you cut him down for me, please?" I can't see her face but I can hear the fake innocence in her voice. Then her words register and my eyes go wide as I see a piece of ice appear in Ice Prick's hands.

"No, no, no, no, no, stripper, don't you dare."

He smirks and the next thing I know I'm hitting the floor face first. I turn my head up to glare at the ice freak, a growl low in my throat.

"That was uncalled for, and you know it."

As I climb to my feet I ignore them and instead walk to the bathroom to get ready. When I walk out everyone's sitting around the room, waiting for the knock on the door.

A few minutes later a knock on the door draws our attention and this time Wendy opens it to reveal the path to the arena. We step through and walk out onto the balcony at the same time as the other teams do.

The crowds are already cheering, the stands still filling, the rock stands tall in the middle of the field, and off to one side of the field I can see Mato talking to a knight in one of the tunnels. White armor catches my attention and I frown as I try to remember why it looks familiar.

"Hey, Luce?"

She looks at me and I point at the knight. "Ain't that Arcadia something?"

She follows my gaze and nods. "That's Arcadios. I wonder what they're talking about?"

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the sixth day of the Grand Magic Games." The announcer draws our attention away from the knight and we look up at the lacrimas as Chapati continues. "As always, this is Chapati Lola and Yajima here. Now, today's guest announcer has been up here before and can certainly send you for a spin. Let me introduce Ooba Babasaama, the master of the Lamia Scale guild. Master Ooba, any words?"

"I'll send you spinning if we don't get started!"

"Right, on to Mato, to find out what today holds."

Luce and I share a look and she giggles when Chapati deadpans.

We look at the stone and wait with bated breath as the question marks blurr, extending until they settle on new words.

 _Day 1: The Windy City_

 _Day 2: One on One Battles_

 _Day 3: Dark Labyrinth_

 _Day 4: Morning: One on One Battles, Afternoon: Tag Team Battles_

 _Day 5: Day of Rest_

 _Day 6: Bite the Bullet_

 _Day 7: ?_

"Before I explain the rules of the game we need one competitor from each team to step onto the field."

We turn to look at each other and I grin. "I'll do the challenge."

I move to walk down the tunnel but Erza lays a hand on my shoulder, her grip tightening ever so slightly.

"I'm going for this challenge, Natsu, you four have already done a challenge, it's my turn to earn us some points."

She walks past me and the stripper and disappears down the tunnel. I turn back around, setting my hands on the balcony railing and watch as a large wooden pillar a hundred-feet in diameter rises in the middle of the arena.

When it stops rising it reaches twenty-feet in the air and from where I stand I can see ten impressions line the sides. The top of the structure glows and gold lines similar to the battle shields stretch and connect at the walls, leaving the arena sectioned off into eight areas. Each area is lined up with a tunnel and at the entrance of each tunnel stands a competitor.

Like usual Mato stands out of the way but still in full view of everyone atop the structure.

"Welcome to Bite the Bullet. What you see here is a challenge that will test your accuracy and your agility. If you look at the walls of the structure I'm standing on, you'll see several ruts carved into it. One-hundred targets will appear in the ruts and you must hit every one of them to complete the challenge. Each time ten targets are hit they will pick up speed. Do not think that this will be as easy as it sounds, no, while you're trying to hit the targets projectiles will be flying at you. You must dodge these projectiles at all cost. They will not harm you, but if you are hit three times you are automatically out of the challenge and will receive no points. If you miss a target, the projectile speed will increase as well. You'll start with three lives, as previously stated, once all three are gone you are out, but if you finish the challenge with remaining lives you will be awarded points for each life left. The first competitor to take out all one-hundred targets will receive sixteen points, the second competitor will receive fourteen and so on, with the competitor coming in last place receiving only two points. That said, competitors, are you ready, or will you bite the bullet?"

* * *

 **Short, I know, but I had this really awesome idea for how to start the next chapter and I felt like ending it like this would help with it.**

 **Anyway I gotta give huge props to StrikeForceHeroeTeller for the idea, but you'll have to see how it really turns out next week.**

 **Am I being cruel? Most likely, but I'm having too much fun with this story, and like y'all I don't want it to end so soon which is part of the reason why I'm stretching it out.**

 **I also may or may not be trying to mess around with different techniques for suspense. Also, let's see how many of you actually read this A/N. *looks around* There's plans for a sequel bouncing around in the air.**

 **But anyway I gotta go now, plans are to be made, I need to mess with the outline for this story and fix it with the new chapter addition. *rolls eyes* always a pain in the ass to do. If you're new make sure you fave and follow for more and if you're a returning fan, you know the drill. LEAVE A REVIEW!**

 **Come on, we're at 116 reviews, I wanna see if we can surpass mine and Stele's christmas story which topped out at 135 reviews. Think we can do it?**

 **That's up to you to decide.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Why can't you hear a pterodactyl going to the bathroom?**


	25. Day 6 Part 2

**I'M BACK! And this time I have an actual chapter for y'all. Count this as my apology chapter to y'all for the past few weeks. In my docs this chapter turned out to be close to fifteen pages so I'd say that's pretty damn good, but now I have to go write an apology to Stele, because she had to edit the entire thing. Most likely, though, I'll just end up schmoozing her into forgetting about it and we can go on with our days.**

 **There's more I wanna say but I'm gonna hold out until the end for now let's get a reminder of what happened last week.**

 **Previously on DKQ:**

 **"...competitors, are you ready, or will you bite the bullet?"**

* * *

Chapter 25

Day 6 Part 2

 **Erza P.O.V.**

A group of wooden pellets flies over my head harmlessly as I duck and roll swiftly to the left. A bright red magic circle flares beneath my feet and I jump up, daggers in hand. I launch forward and my daggers slide through four of the newly placed, coin-sized targets, bringing my total up to fifty.

A ding above me signals that the pellets are picking up speed again. With two lives left and two hours into this game, I can only focus on the targets as they zoom across the ruts.

I feel the magic of a spell surge behind me and take the chance to run full throttle down the middle of the field and requip two long swords along with my flight armor.

The speed boost is enough to drive me up the wall of wood, the tips of my swords dragging along behind me and scoring a path through the targets. Projectiles hit the wood mere seconds behind my feet and I flip backward when I run out of surface to climb.

Overhead, two more bells make themselves known and I feel my lips lift in the beginning of a small smile. Another twenty targets down with that one maneuver, bringing my total to seventy.

My feet barely touch the ground before I'm requipping into my Adamantine armor to avoid two sets of pellets, one right after the other.

Requipping again, I roll to avoid another flying pellet and when I stand up I manage to catch Jellal's eye. He smiles in a quiet cheer and I feel the tips of my ears burn. Thankfully, though, my hair conceals it and I snap my attention back to the targets when I see a fresh line start to form.

A quick glance gives me a rough guess of fifteen and I requip my bow and quiver of arrows. I grab an arrow from the quiver, line up the shot, and let it fly with enough time to requip and bend back, dodging another volley.

The arrow strikes the target at the very top and I glance in enough time to see the lightning lacrima break and trail down the line of targets fast enough for them to explode before they can separate.

The bell rings another two times and my smile widens when I realize that my calculations were correct and that I did indeed hit fifteen, leaving me with only ten targets on the wall.

By now the targets are moving so fast that they're a mere blur on the wall so I have trouble keeping up with them. A red light from the top target grabs my attention. I roll to dodge a barrage from above, making sure to keep an eye on the red light.

As it moves back across the wall it hits a lever, slowing down for only a second or two before speeding up again and I have to move to avoid yet another volley.

That's when it clicks.

There are levers hidden in the wall and every time the target moves across the wall it hits the lever, activating a volley. The fewer targets on the wall, the faster they move and the more often the attacks occur.

Following this line of thought, I back up until my back is against the arena wall and requip a set of knives into my hands. The throwing knives are only five-inches-long but sharp enough to dig into a white oak tree from two-hundred feet.

I keep a sharp eye on the volleys, timing it until there's a lull in the attacks and then spin on my right heel, releasing the knives in my left hand with the knives in my right following only a second behind.

Red blinds me for a second but I manage to dodge in enough time as the satisfying sound of metal hitting wood greets me.

The pellets stop flying, the bell rings loud enough for me to hear over the adrenalin rushing my veins, and I look up at the lacrima to see our team appear just below Gajeel's on the scoreboard.

My smile falls at the sight of the scores already up and I walk down the tunnel as soon as the shield falls to let me through.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Erza steps onto the balcony just as another bell rings and the knight looks to the lacrima when Lamia Scale takes the spot below Fairy A.

The screen changes from the scores to views of the two remaining competitors taking out their own targets.

The requip mage leans against the balcony and looks over when Lucy steps around Natsu and sets her hands on the railing.

"That was incredible, Erza, I don't think I could've done half as well as you did."

She smiles in return at the compliment but it quickly turns to a frown as she looks at the scores. "I'm afraid I didn't do that well if I got fourth. By the way, who participated for the other teams?"

A familiar bell sounds and they look up to see that Yoake Mae of Stele Cad has taken down her sixtieth target.

"There was Rogue for Sabertooth, Warcry for Quatro Cerberus, Gajeel, and Ichiya for Blue Pegasus."

An explosion from the other side of the arena gathers their attention and they watch as Kagura wields Archenemy in such a way as to deflect some of the pellets from herself and hit the targets.

"What happened to the Blue Pegasus' points if he finished early?"

Gray snorts from her other side. "He was so busy trying to boost his ego that he lost all his lives in the first five minutes. As it is they get no points today."

"I think Warcry did the best, even though Rogue was the first to finish."

Wendy looks away, intimidated by their looks and Lucy sets a hand on her shoulder.

"What do you mean by that, Wendy?"

"His attacks were really powerful, and did you see the way he used his tears to deflect the bullets while also hitting the targets?"

They fall quiet, the only sounds coming from the crowds around them until Gray shrugs.

"He may be strong enough to have placed second but still, his attacks take awhile to charge, leaving him at a disadvantage in most fights."

Natsu snorts, garnering their attention, and turns so that he's leaning with his back against the balcony. "Strong or not, he's in the games because Gold-what's-his-name chose to put him on their team."

Two finishing bells grab their attention and they look at the lacrimas as the places for Mermaid Heel and Stele Cad grab their attention.

"And that, folks, brings an early end to the challenge. Now, if you'll direct your attention to the lacrima screens, the points are being tallied and added to the overall scores."

The scores from today's challenge move over to the appropriate guild's overall score and it blurs as the two are added together. When the number stops everyone stares at the screen in shock as Quatro Cerberus rises from last place to fifth, having gained twenty-three points from today's challenge. Meanwhile, Blue Pegasus drops to last place, having earned no points.

 _Fairy Tail A—90_

 _Fairy Tail B—88_

 _Sabertooth—81_

 _Lamia Scale—61_

 _Quatro Cerberus—47_

 _Mermaid Heel—37_

 _Stele Cad—30_

 _Blue Pegasus—26_

"Even with Erza Scarlet coming in fourth place Fairy Tail A still rides high in first place." Chapati starts out with the explanation and Yajima picks it up.

"But thanks to Gajeel Redfox's quick thinking and even quicker metal attacks that landed Fairy Tail's Team B in third place, they now sit in second place only two points behind Team A."

"Rogue Cheney of Sabertooth may have scored first in today's challenge but sadly it did nothing to help their overall score. Sabertooth follows seven points behind Fairy Tail B. Master Ooba, anything to say?"

"When I get ahold of Jura I'm gonna send him spinning for placing fifth! Fourth place overall? Bah, I'll spin the lot of you!"

Yajima hides his smile at the fact that Ooba is spinning Chapati and moves on. "While Chapati is a little busy with spinning, we have a major upset in the scores. On Day Four they held eighth place but now they hold fifth. It's thanks to Warcry who placed second in today's challenge that Quatro Cerberus is now up to forty-seven points."

Chapati finally stops spinning as Yajima finishes speaking and he fixes his toupee as he leans toward the mic. "While Quatro Cerberus occupies fifth, Mermaid Heel takes sixth place with Kagura Mikazuchi having placed seventh in the challenge."

"In seventh place with an overall score of thirty points, Stele Cad sits low on the totem board, Yoake Mae having been unable to place higher than sixth place in the challenge, and sitting in eighth place Blue Pegasus gained no points today, keeping their score at twenty-six."

As Yajima says this, over on the Blue Pegasus balcony Ichiya bows his head in shame, an unusual reaction for him, while his teammates try to cheer him up.

"And with the rundown done, these are your announcer's Chapati Lola, and Chef Yajima, signing off for Day Six of the games. Master Ooba, any last words?"

"Spin and spin, because more awaits the competitors tomorrow!"

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

After the announcements are done we walk down the tunnels, Erza and Stripper ahead of us, Luce close by my side and myself relaxing with my hands behind my head.

"Oi, Flame Brain, any plans for tonight?"

I arch an eyebrow at the question and frown, my feet stopping as I think it over. "Actually, I don't think we have any plans." Then I look over at Lucy. "Do we?"

She shakes her head and goes to reply but a large blur of gold and white tackles her to the ground and when it settles I see Clare sitting on Lucy in her feline form and holding a paper.

Luce sits up, rubbing the back of her head, and I snort in amusement as Clare practically hums in excitement. Her tail lashes back and forth so fast it's almost a blur and she's rocking on her paws as she unravels the paper and shoves it in Lucy's face.

"Lucy, can we go to Ryuzetsu Land? Please? Please, please, please?!" Her voice goes up an octave and I can't hide my smile as I lean down and pick up the over excited Exceed.

"Isn't Ryuzetsu Land the water park Flame Brain destroyed a few years back?"

I roll my eyes and pulling the paper from Clare's paws, hand it to Luce. "If anyone destroyed the water park, it was you, ya damn icicle."

He goes to retort but Erza smacks him upside his head and I barely manage to duck as Lucy tries to smack me.

"That's enough out of both of you, you both destroyed the water park and we should be grateful that they haven't banned us from it. As for plans tonight, we will be going, not only for Clare to see it, but so that Lucy and I can enjoy ourselves."

Stripper salutes and gives a shaky 'aye, sir' while I bite my tongue. Erza already knows that wherever Lucy goes I'll follow.

Erza nods and walks away, but not before I catch sight of a certain ex-criminal hanging out at the corner of another hallway.

Luce follows my gaze and I see her smile as she wraps an arm around mine. "I'm glad Erza has Jellal, they fit together."

I hum in agreement and we continue walking down the tunnel toward the exit until something crosses my mind and I can't help the small chuckle that escapes me. She looks up at me in confusion and I feel Clare tip her head back, watching me as well.

"What's so funny?"

I shake my head, my smile never fading. She pouts and I give in, explaining, "Just wondering who exactly would wear the pants in that family."

She stops mid step and I turn back to back to watch the array of emotions cross her face until she covers her mouth as she giggles. Shaking my head in amusement, I hold a hand out to her.

"Come on, weirdo, let's go find Happy and see if he wants to go to the water park with us."

She takes my hand and I pull her along, letting Clare fly beside us as we run down to the town.

It takes us an hour to find Happy but after we do we head back to the inn, pick up our swim suits, then walk to the other side of the city where the water park and other attractions sit.

When we enter the building I'm surprised that not only has it doubled in size compared to when the stripper destroyed it, but it also has many more slides, more aquariums, and even a large surfing attraction.

As soon as we reach the main pool, Clare flies off in the direction where I can see Lily sitting on the bar and eating a kiwi. Happy takes off for where Carla and Wendy are playing in a smaller pool, and I grin as I throw Luce over my shoulder and dive into the water.

Before we hit the surface I hear her squeal and I turn when we're under so that I'm looking her in the eye. At first she's mad and she crosses her arms in front of her, looking away so she avoids me.

I grin, swimming closer to her and when she opens her eyes to look at me I throw her up in the air. Even under water I hear her squeal and I surface to watch as she drops back into the water.

Her head breaks the surface and she pulls the hair out of her eyes, her small smile not going unnoticed, or the look of revenge quickly gathering.

She dives under the water and I lose sight of her purple bikini-clad body as she swims lower into the depths. My arm glows for a second but I pay it no mind as I turn around, looking for Lucy.

The water is still, almost nobody in the pool save for a couple of our guild mates, and only then do I become aware of the building current. It's slow at first, but eventually I can see the water as it runs away from me and gathers in the form of a wave on one side.

The wave builds until it's about five-feet-high, and I feel the color drain from my face as I realize what she's doing. Correction, what she and Aquarius are doing. The glow from earlier has me facepalming as I swim backwards, trying to get away from the spirit's troublesome attack.

Finally, the wave collapses.

"Shit!"

It smacks me head-on and the next thing I know I'm lying face down against a wall. Gravity starts pulling me backward; my body peels off the rock wall and I fall back into the water.

I let myself sink under the water, my eyes open, searching for a shock of blonde. She doesn't let me down as she swims up to meet me. She tilts her head and I grin return.

Turning myself so that my head is pointed towards the surface again, I swim forward until I'm right in front of her. She smiles, and tilting her chin up, I kiss her soft and sweet.

She returns it and we forget about the outside world for just a moment. The prophecy falls away, our friends fade from mind, and it's just me and her—fire and stars, warmth and light.

I pull away from the kiss, leaning my forehead against hers.

"I love you, my star, without you my world loses its brightness; without you, I have no reason to live." The words escape me as a whisper, disappearing into the water around us and only being heard by her.

Her mouth opens to reply but the water around us drops by a good thirty degrees and we look up to see the surface freezing over.

We share a look and swimming up, manage to see the stripper skating around on the ice, wearing a smirk as he sometimes kicks the solid water.

I scowl, ready to burn him to ashes, but Luce taps on my shoulder and I turn to watch as she sets both hands against the ice. The temperature drops even more and I look up to see ice spires rising from above us and nearly tripping Ice Princess.

When he finally trips I heat up the water around us enough to melt all the ice, leaving the pool as it was originally.

Luce swims to the edge of the pool and climbs out, the sway of her hips a little too enticing for me to watch so I roll backward, diving back under the water. The dark blue of the deeper water reminds me of training with Aqua and I stop descending when the light from the surface starts to dim.

The pull of the water sitting motionless around me draws my attention, and I grin as I look up to see Ice Prick floating by overhead. My plan hatches quickly and I call out Virgo.

When she appears, she tilts her head in confusion and I quickly explain to her what I want. She nods, disappearing back to the spirit realm for only a minute before she's returning with everything I need.

I nod and she leaves again, leaving me to put on the fin and mask. When they're in place I look up, picking out my target quick enough and ascend slowly.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

I'm gonna pretend I didn't see Virgo's symbol light up, and I'm gonna ignore the fact that Gray's floating on the surface of the pool, so I do the most plausible thing, I lean back in my chair in between Levy and Erza and sip my drink while the show gets ready to start.

Levy taps me on the arm. "Hey, Lu-chan, what's that on the water?"

I follow her gaze to where something small and gray breaks the surface of the water and grin.

"Just sit back and watch the show, Levy-chan."

She eyes me curiously but shrugs and leans back in her chair. We both watch as the gray tip breaches the surface then sinks below, each time getting closer to Gray. The waves in the wake of the fin finally draws Gray's attention and he turns his head to find the source.

"I have to admit, you and Natsu being able to breathe underwater must come in handy."

I nod at Levy's words and we sit up when the fin breaks the surface in Gray's line of sight. His eyes go wide, the color drains from his face, and he screams like a girl.

"S-s-shark!"

The scream gathers the attention of the rest of our guildmates and we watch slack-jawed as Gray almost runs across the water, trying to get away from the laughing shark. His feet hit the ground but he keeps running until he's climbed up one of the fake trees and watching the water with a scared, but quickly turning angry, expression.

In the water as Natsu sits up I can see him wearing a shark mask and he has a foot-long fin attached to his back. His laughing draws my attention next and I start giggling along.

The others seem to get the idea because laughter soon fills the area around the pool, everyone enjoying a prank well played. Well, everyone but the pranked himself.

The temperature drops a couple degrees and I watch as he leaps from the tree he's clinging to and lands in the water next to Natsu. They start wrestling, trying to hold the other's head underwater, and I get bored watching them so I lay my head back and close my eyes.

A few minutes after Levy gets up to go do something with Gajeel, I hear someone walk up to the chair she was in and sit down.

"I had wondered why the sun was gone from the sky, she's sitting right here in front of me."

I open my eyes at the pick-up line to see a guy with blonde hair greased back over his head, light blue eyes, and an arrogant smirk. Arching an eyebrow, I look at him pointedly.

"I'm sorry, you must be talking to someone else because this sun occupies someone else's sky."

His arrogant expression drops right away and I get up, walking away from him and toward the slides.

Out of the corner of my eye I see him watching me intently, but I ignore it in favor of watching Gray haul Natsu over his shoulder and slam him back into the water. As I climb the steps to the tallest slide I see the water around Gray boil and the ice mage takes off out of the water. He's missing the last piece of his clothing, though, and I hear a woman scream as Juvia runs after him.

I shake my head in amusement and turn up the last set of steps before the opening to the slide.

"It must be crazy having teammates like those two."

I jump at the sound of the voice behind me and turn to see the guy from earlier watching me. I look back down at where Natsu is floating across the water, his eyes on me, and feel my expression soften.

"They're crazy," I admit softly, "but I wouldn't give them up for the world. My teammates are my family, just as much as the rest of my guild is."

He nods. "You have to forgive me for earlier. I'm Jace by the way, you're Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail, right?"

Something about the statement bothers me but I push it back as I move to stand in front of the mouth of the slide. Grabbing the bars, I lift my feet and launch myself down the slide, the speed of moving through the water reminding me of when we would swim with Aqua.

Unfortunately, the slide comes to an end too soon and I'm dropped back into the pool from earlier. When the water surrounds me I open my eyes and am not surprised to find Natsu floating in front of me, his expression unreadable as he grabs my hand and we swim to the surface.

As we reach the surface I hear him growling faintly but when I try to ask him what's wrong he ignores me, instead choosing to climb out the pool. He leads me to another area, the sign reading: _Surfer's Paradise_

Through the line I can see a large wave curling while someone tries to surf it. The wave crashes and the person ends up washing up on one side of the field.

Natsu's growls increase and I barely make out the word 'mine'. Then I understand what's going through his head and I can't help the smile that spreads across my face.

"Natsu, are you jealous?"

He scoffs and my smile grows bigger as I turn him around and wrap my arms around his neck.

"My dragon is jealous."

When he opens his mouth to deny the fact I take the chance to kiss him. His growling stops and he calms down soon enough. He pulls away, laying his head on my shoulder and runs a hand up my back as he huffs.

"I can't help it, Luce, you're mine and I don't like others playing with my treasure."

I giggle and he wraps an arm around my waist as we move further in the line. "I know, Natsu, but he just wanted to talk, he wasn't flirting or anything. Don't you think I would've told him off earlier if he was?"

He sniffs in indignation and we stop in front of the surfboard booth to get two, then move onto where the single file line waits at the edge of the water.

We watch as each person paddles out to the deeper water, the spell to draw the wave activates, and the wave builds until the person stands up on the board and tries to ride it out. Some manage to ride the wave out completely, but those are few and far between, most just manage to stand on their boards then get flipped when the board gets too wobbly.

Soon it comes to Natsu and I and he goes first. He sets his board in the water, it already being five-foot-deep at the entrance point, and starts to paddle out. When he reaches the starting point the spell picks up the water, causing it to curl and rush toward him. He turns the board around so his back is to it and when the water picks up underneath, climbs to his feet.

The board starts to shake and when it rises in the water he kicks the board up by leaning to his right, going against the wave. The board picks up speed and as the wave starts to crash he disappears into the tunnel the crashing wave creates.

A minute later gasps come from the line as his board bobs up in the waves but he doesn't, until I make out the shock of pink hair moving through the water. He gets almost under the board and comes up just as the lifeguards are starting to panic.

Said lifeguards give him the stink eye and relax back into their chairs as he climbs back onto his board and paddles over to the other side to climb out.

The lifeguard in front of me holds a hand out for my board. He takes it and sets it in the water, allowing me to straddle it before pushing out so I can start paddling.

I copy Natsu's actions and turn my board so that the back faces the wave, and I bite my lip as I watch the wave gradually increasing in size as it sweeps down on me. The water around me swirls and I climb to my feet, the board rocking slightly from the movement. I take a deep breath, the edge of the wave hovering over me and I move.

Leaning to the right, the board turned into the wave, it starts to crash down around me. The sight is both beautiful and terrifying as I ride through the tunnel. An urge strikes me and I reach my hand out to touch the water as I move, a smile gracing my lips as the end of the tunnel comes in sight.

Unfortunately, the wave crashes down, knocking me off the board, and as I turn over to orient myself I feel something wrap around my ankle. I lean back with one hand to see what it is as I hold one hand above the water when I realize that I'm being dragged deeper into the water.

My hand wraps around the rope on my ankle and I try to pull it off, but it only tightens as I'm pulled further under. The worst part is that when I open my mouth to call out I feel my magic disappear at an alarming rate and then I'm fighting for air.

I start to struggle more, trying to worm my way out of the tightening rope even while my mind is working a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out why I can't breathe.

My lungs are burning, my vision starting to darken when I look up and see someone swimming towards me. Their hands reach out for me and I struggle to get away when they grab onto my shoulders.

"Lucy, stop, it's me."

I stop moving when Natsu's words reach me and point at the rope attached to my ankle. He nods and dives down, holding my leg as a lifeline until he's able to burn it away.

Almost as soon as the rope falls away I feel my magic return and my lungs stop burning. He swims back up until he's able to wrap an arm around my waist and starts to swim back to the surface.

We reach the surface and I look up in surprise when he sets me on the surfboard I was using earlier. He pushes me forward in silence and I look around to see a lot of people wearing different expressions. Most are relieved, others are intrigued, then there are others, like the lifeguards and some of our guildmates, that are worried.

The board bumps against the wall and I look up to see Erza and Master standing at the edge. Erza helps me up off the board and I grimace when I look at my foot to see a nasty bruise from the rope already appearing.

"Erza, take Lucy and some of the other girls over to your inn for the night."

Erza nods at the command from Master and I can only follow as she grabs me by the wrist and pulls me away.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As Erza pulls Lucy away from the onlookers, Makarov turns back to where Natsu stands on the edge of the water, his expression partly hidden by his bangs.

"Natsu, things are coming to a head, you must keep your cool until they reveal themselves."

The temperature drops ten degrees but the tension in Natsu's shoulders does not lessen as he looks at his master.

"Gramps, she couldn't breathe, that rope was stopping her magic."

Even as he hisses the words Makarov pales a shade and runs a hand down his beard. Plans of all kinds already working in multi steps. He sighs, his shoulders slumping, and he seems to gain years to his age.

"I'll talk to the first and see if we can come up with some kind of plan. In the meantime, go find Gray and the others and let off some steam, _away_ from anything that could possibly cost me money if damaged."

Natsu nods stiffly and moves away, his mind more on a certain blonde then on finding his friends to do any kind of brawling.

Meanwhile, in the back of the crowd already dispersing from the attraction, a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed male stands with two fingers pressed to his temple.

 _"Boss, the plan to pick up Heartfilia fell through, the dragon saved her before we could pick her up."_

The man receiving the message frowns and the glass of whiskey in his hand shatters, sending shards of glass across the desk.

"Damn it, Jace, how the hell did you mess that up?" he growls, and glares at the door on the opposite side of the darkened room until his eyes settle on an embellished piece of paper sitting on one side of his desk. His expression morphs into an evil grin. "No matter, our next chance will come soon. In the meantime, keep an eye on them, and since you decided to introduce yourself, don't let them know you're following them."

 _"Of course, Sir."_

The boss chuckles and the sound echoes throughout the room as it evolves into downright maniacal laughter.

"Oh, those dragons will be ours soon enough. We need only have patience." With only the walls as a witness, his statement goes unnoticed.

* * *

 **Let's get started with:**

 **I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to do Ryuzetsu Land. I loved it in the manga and I wanted to give it a go. NOTICE: I still did it my way with it being on a different day and different activities.**

 **Now that I have that out of my system we have enemies on the horizon, they're starting to make themselves known and giving NaLu a little bit of trouble. There will be more trouble afoot in the next few chapters. I'm also glad that some people have noticed that a sequel will be in order. As with the threequel for my TOTD universe, it won't be for a little while, as I need to plan out more of a plot and find time to write it, so most likely after I have this story finished and working on updating the next one.**

 **Which, that reminds me, there is a poll on my profile that correlates to the next story on the agenda so I do hope that you'll go over and vote. The poll closes when this story ends so there are a couple months yet until then.**

 **Onto the next point of this rambling A/N:**

 **This story now has 127 reviews and I'm have a sort of deal to make you.**

 **If we can reach over 140 reviews by next Monday I may be motivated enough to drop another one shot that I've had hanging in the closet for about a month now.**

 **Let me reiterate that: If y'all push this story to over 140 reviews total then I give y'all a new one shot. Sound like a deal?**

 **I know y'all can do it, that's just the kind of people you are. :D**

 **Oi, Blue! Happy belated Birthday and I'm glad to know you LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEE my stories so much. Hehe, had to go with a bit of Happy there. Y'all saw more of the Exceeds this chapter, so I hoped you liked it. I have a lot of fun playing around with them, especially with how Clare acts.**

 **For now I think I've said enough so I will see y'all within the next week, and if you're new make sure you fave and follow for more.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. For last week's joke the 'p' is silent for any who didn't get it.**


	26. Day 7

**Let me tell you now, I have a headache so I'm gonna try and keep this short and sweet but I doubt it with how I ramble. *rolls eyes* Now if you're asking why I'm still putting this up instead of sleeping it off I'm a tell you right now. I already missed one week since I started updating weekly and I'm not doing it again. Especially when I have the chapter actually finished. Which that reminds me.**

 **I gotta go finish the chapter for crews this week. *shrugs* I'm almost finished that one anyway.**

 **Like I said, I'm rambling, go read the chapter and I'll see y'all at the end, by then hopefully this sugar rush kicks in.**

* * *

 **Chapter 26**

Day 7

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

I know Gramps said for the girls to have a slumber party at our inn last night but as I move around all the slumbering bodies I didn't expect them to have an _actual_ party.

Over in one corner, I see a pile of beer and liquor bottles along with a shock of brown hair that can only be Cana. Looking down, I have to step over Juvia then turn on my heel to avoid stepping on Laki's hand.

As I get closer to the bed I can make out my prize lying in between Levy and Erza while Wendy curls around their feet, most likely to stay warmer. I stop at the foot of the bed and a hand shoots out, grabbing me by my ankle.

I look down and am surprised to see Mira glaring at me from almost under the bed until she realizes it's me. Then she lets me go and starts crawling out from under the bed to get up and most likely wake the others.

Returning my attention, I lean down and set my hand on Wendy's shoulder, shaking her awake first. She rolls over, rubbing an eye, and yawns before she recognizes it's me.

"Natsu, what time is it?"

She moves to sit up and I step back, allowing her to do so. "It's a couple of hours until the last day starts, you should help Mira wake the others then go get ready."

She nods and yawns again as she grabs the white Exceed I had missed when I looked earlier.

My attention returns to Lucy as she still sleeps and I look at her feet to see the bruise from last night gone, Wendy having healed it sometime during the night. I lay my hand on her calf and gently shake her until she groans and rolls over.

I hear her whine then arch an eyebrow as she elbows Levy. In turn, the bookworm whines as well.

"Leave me alone, I'm sleeping."

I shake my head in amusement and shake Lucy harder. "Luce, come on, it's time to get up."

Levy rolls over, falling off the bed as she does and I can't help the chuckle that escapes me as she lands on top of Bisca, who had been sleeping in front of the nightstand.

Bisca groans and she lifts her head to look back at Levy as she runs a hand over her face. "Levy, you gotta get off."

The bookworm squeaks and jumps up. "Sorry, Bisca."

She waves it off and gets up as well, stretching as she looks around the room and her gaze lands on me. She arches an eyebrow but I just shrug it off and look back at Lucy.

Luce rubs her eyes and blinks when she sees me then yawns and waves me away. "Natsu, go away."

I smirk and she growls. "I swear, you shock me again and I'm Lucy-kicking you all the way to the guild."

"Then get up and I won't have to shock you."

She growls again and glares at me as she sits up, running a hand through her hair. "You're such an ass."

"You love me and you know it."

I hear giggling and turn to see the other girls, including Erza, standing in front of the door and watching us. Mira has hearts in her eyes and the others are trying to push her out the door so we can be left alone. Finally, they manage to get her out the door and Erza blocks her sight of us as it swings shut.

Unfortunately, it doesn't swing shut fast enough as Levy pokes her head in, her smirk devilish.

"Remember, you two, we have to be ready in a couple hours so no play time."

The door slams shut just as Lucy throws a pillow at it and I fall into the bed beside her. I wrap an arm around her face and glance up to see her cheeks are dark red and her ears could be on fire with how hot they are.

"I love her like a sister and still she embarrasses me."

My arm tightens around her and I chuckle. "No wonder Metalhead said she can be a little devil."

She falls back into the bed and starts running a hand through my hair, her nails scratching my scalp every so often.

"You have no idea, she has a crazy side that's really fun. There was actually one time—"

I groan, cutting her off and squeeze her even more tightly. "Please, do not finish that sentence, I do not wanna know how Metalhead and my sister-figure live their love life."

She giggles and I feel a purr rise to the back of my throat as she lightly scratches my head. I press my nose into the side of her stomach, enjoying the scent of strawberries, vanilla, and campfire smoke and start to doze.

"Are you okay?"

"'M 'kay just mished you." My tongue feels heavy as I try to fight off sleep to listen to her.

"That's not what I mean and you know it."

The memories from last night crash back full-force, washing away any ideas of sleep. I nuzzle into her stomach a little harder as the anger from last night returns. When she flinches I immediately relax my grip and tilt my head so that I'm looking her in the eye, my brows furrowed in thought.

"I'm not mad at you if that's what you're thinking. I just don't like the idea that someone is out there and trying to hurt you. Be it for this stinking prophecy or just in general. I'd rather it be me then you getting hurt."

She sighs, her stomach raising me with it as she inhales and exhales. "Natsu, nothing is gonna happen to me, you more than anyone else should know that I can protect myself."

My stomach flips, telling me that her words may yet prove to be false, and a whimper escapes me. The fear that I may lose her starts to build into a tidal wave and threatens to drown me.

Then I feel her fingers running through my hair. I hear her humming a song I've only ever heard from her. Taking a deep breath, her scent relaxes me and I lay my head back down. Even as her hum fills my ears and echoes through her chest, I realize something that I should've known all along.

She's here, she's safe, and I won't lose her.

On the edge of my hearing, I notice a knock on the door but I ignore it, growling when she tries to get up.

"We have to get up, Natsu, we still have to get ready for today's Games."

I whine at her words but loosen my hold on her, allowing her to get up. I get up as well and walk over to my clothes to get changed.

As I walk into the bathroom I hear the door open then shut and look up when Luce appears in the doorway holding a gold envelope.

"It was the courier with this year's invite to the guild's gala."

I arch an eyebrow at her explanation and take the envelope from her. "Is that seriously what they're calling it?"

She rolls her eyes and snatches it back. "You know as well as I do why the king insists on having this dance the day after the Games. Not only is he still showing gratitude for our help against the dragons but it's also for the guilds to calm down and get to play meet and greet without fighting."

I smirk, a puff of smoke escaping my nose as I walk past her. "That's all those galas are, is just fighting between the guilds."

"You, Gajeel, and Gray are the ones that always start the fighting in the first place." The amusement is clear in her voice as she walks to the closet and starts changing.

Sneaking up behind her, I grab the top she's about to put on and hold it above her head. "If I remember correctly, last year it was you and Levy who started the fight over who could steal Erza's cake without her noticing."

She hisses and grabs the top out of my hand. "I told you not to bring it up again. Cana was the one who got us too drunk to notice."

"So, you're saying that if I get you and Levy drunk enough we get to watch another cat fight?" The taunt is too good to pass up and as I lean against the wall next to the closet door I see her face and neck growing even redder until steam starts flying from her ears.

She turns and stomps off to the bathroom as a knock sounds on the door. I get up and open it to find our other teammates standing there. They walk in and my smirk never falls as they turn to look at the closed door where steam is pouring through the cracks and a slew of curses can be heard.

"Damn, Flame Brain, I haven't heard her that pissed in a while. What'd you say to her?"

"Talking about cat fights is all."

He tilts his head in confusion at my somewhat cryptic remark and I hold up the invitation. The confusion melts away to reveal a smirk as knowing as my own.

The ladies get our meaning a second later and Erza scowls while Wendy tries, and fails, to hide her own laughter.

After the laughter dies down we only have to wait for another five minutes for Luce to be ready and it's another ten before the knock on the door signals it's time to leave.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Chapati yawns as he sits in his chair, Yajima already in his while the guest announcer's is empty, said guest nowhere in sight. He sets his toupee on his head straight and takes a sip of his coffee.

"Morning, Chapati, sleep well?"

The announcer huffs and sets his coffee down next to his mic. "Not really, there's been buzz that a fairy mage almost died at Ryuzetsu last night and I've been listening to news lacrima all night."

He misses the look of surprise on the chef's face, instead focused on where Mato paces in the arena, waiting for the announcers to start.

Slowly, the crowds fill the stands and just as they're finished being filled, the door to the announcer's booth bursts open to reveal a ginger-haired man who has a prosthetic arm and leg and wearing a cloak.

He stands up straight, running a hand through his hair and grins sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late, got caught up talking to Makarov."

Chapati nods, his general cheerful side starting to show as the caffeine kicks in and he turns back to the arena.

Yajima smiles. "It's okay, Gildarts, I'm sure Makey had something very important if he needed to discuss it with you this early."

The destruction mage grimaces but it quickly fades to a smile as he nods. "Yes, anyway, have I missed anything?"

The chef shakes his head as Gildarts moves to take his seat and they turn to the field as Chapati turns on his mic.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the final day of the Games. This is it: will Fairy Tail go home with the title of number one guild in Fiore for the fourth consecutive year or will the other guilds rise up and take the fairy's crown? Today is the day where we find out.

"As always these are your announcers, Chapati Lola and Chef Yajima. Today our guest announcer is considered the strongest in his guild, he takes on hundred-year S-class missions and returns in eight, and his magic is as destructive as his guild. If you haven't guessed it yet, it's the S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive."

"Hello, hello, folks, Chapati. I gotta say, thank you for inviting me, I'm excited to see what's planned today, aren't you?" The excitement in the destruction mage's voice riles the crowd up and they start cheering even louder, even though no action has started.

"Why yes, I am. Why don't we see what Mato has in store?"

The mascot takes the cue and steps on a spot only visible to him. The switch activates the spell hiding the stone and it rises, revealing the schedule to the spectators. The seventh day blurs and when it settles the cheers increase dramatically.

 _Day 1: The Windy City_

 _Day 2: One on One Battles_

 _Day 3: Dark Labyrinth_

 _Day 4: Morning: One on One Battles, Afternoon: Tag Team Battles_

 _Day 5: Day of Rest_

 _Day 6: Bite the Bullet_

 _Day 7: Battle Royale: Tower Style_

"For the finale, all teams will participate. Each team has picked out a leader; if someone takes out a leader five points is awarded to their overall score. The other four teammates will only count as two points each.

"Now," the grin can be heard in Mato's voice as he raises a finger. "you're probably wondering where the _tower_ portion comes into play. You'll just have to see."

As he says this the ground starts to shake. A magic circle appears under his feet and he's raised into the air as a building of gray stone pushes up under him.

When it stops rising it turns out to be a fortress five-stories tall. There are eight sides and where two walls meet a tower stands. Windows sit in the walls of the towers, allowing natural light to flood the insides. In the middle of the fortress, a ninth tower appears with only a walkway connecting to the top level of each outer tower.

A face appears in each of the windows, eight mages are seen leaning over the balcony on the fifth floor and some of the mages wave at the spectators.

"As you can see, there is one competitor from each team on each floor. The competitors are able to move between floors. What is the goal? The team with the most points by the time the sun sets wins the challenge and the Games. Now, let the tower royale begin!"

The gong sounds, loud and echoing. Three times and the competitors disappear from the windows and the railing.

Two times, magic swamps the arena, the mages clearly gathering theirs.

Once, and the mages move.

On the fifth level, Wendy dodges an array of webs from the Mermaid Heel tower and runs for the steps leading to the fourth level. She jumps down the steps and comes face to back with another mage of Mermaid Heel as she runs toward the direction of the Stele Cad tower.

Wendy turns away, the plan from the first master ready in her mind, and runs down the corridor until she finds the ice covered floor.

She squeaks when a vine wraps around her ankle and jumps back when ice shoots by her. She falls down, the vine keeping her from moving and climbs back to her feet, scowling when she sees the Quatro Cerberus mage, Jäger, aiming at her instead of Gray.

"Gray, hit the deck! Sky Dragon's Roar!"

He hits the ground with seconds to spare as the blast of air knocks the plant mage on his back. Before he has a chance to recover his bearings, Gray rolls over and throws a piece of ice at Wendy.

She uses the ice to cut the vine keeping her in place and they run down the corridor, jumping down the steps and coming face to face with Trish from Stele Cad losing the fight against Orga.

Just as she hits the ground a magic circle appears under her and she goes through it as the announcement reverberates through the walls.

"And Orga of Sabertooth has taken out Trish of Stele Cad, awarding five points to his team in the first hour of the game." The walls start shaking, interrupting Chapati, but he picks up his line again. "It looks like Mermaid Heel and Stele Cad are in a major battle. Yoake Mae has just taken out Araña and in turn, has been eliminated by Risley."

They turn and run the other way toward the Mermaid Heel tower and jump down that set of stairs just as Gildarts makes another announcement.

"Millianna and Risley are eliminated by Mizu with the water nymph being eliminated by Beth mere seconds after. Now, it comes down to Yogan, the fire nymph against Beth, the vegetable mage. Who can win this battle?"

A blizzard blocks one of the corridors and Gray hangs back as Wendy throws her arm back.

"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

The blizzard is cleared out soon enough, revealing Eve fighting Chelia. The sky god slayer turns, and seeing Wendy waves then runs off down the corridor, her expression serious. Eve watches her curiously as she disappears and turns back in enough time to dodge an ice attack.

"Well, what do we have here? Erza Scarlet has taken down Ichiya in just one hit, two points for Fairy Tail Team A."

The three stop mid step at the announcement and Gray shakes his head in amusement while Wendy walks closer to Eve, her expression truly looking innocent to any who don't know her.

Eve smiles charmingly. "You know, I'm still up for a date if you are."

Wendy shakes her head and he has no warning as he's hit with an ice attack and blown through the wall of the corridor.

When he hits the ground, two stories below, the magic circle appears and he's teleported back to the Blue Pegasus balcony.

"Wendy Marvel and Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail A have eliminated Eve Tearm from the game, earning their team five points. In other news, Crystal of Stele Cad has taken out Beth Vanderwood of Mermaid Heel in retaliation for eliminating Yogan, leaving the soul mage as the only remaining Stele Cad competitor in the game."

The duo moves on, jumping down another set of stairs just as the corridors shake and battling echoes around them.

"It seems that Lamia Scale and Quatro Cerberus have gotten into an all out battle as well. Yajima, any thoughts on it?"

They move quickly down the corridor, careful to dodge the dog fight occurring on the floor underneath them and run into Mira, and Jenny of Blue Pegasus. Laxus appears next to them and Gray looks up at him with an eyebrow arched.

"How come you ain't helping her?"

Laxus scoffs. "She'd kill me if I tried. Apparently, Jenny has been spreading rumors about her over the past week, so now Mira's gonna teach her a lesson."

Gray grimaces and nods, turning his attention back to the fight as Yajima gives a new update.

"This certainly is an intriguing fight, folks, Bacchus Groh has eliminated Chelia Blendy from the Games just as Jura brings down Warcry and Semmes. Rocker and Yuka are in a stalemate it seems and Toby can't seem to get past Jäger's defenses."

"Has the punk set up the supports yet?"

Gray looks up at Laxus at the question before it registers and he shrugs. "I don't know, Flame Brain's been different since he got back. More mature and less him."

The ground splits and they move out of the way as if someone was just walking in between them, even though Mira is currently pushing Jenny's face into the floor and down the corridor.

They look up when they hear clapping to see Mira clapping the dust off her hands as she walks up to them, the demon form fading away to her typical smile. "Hello, Gray, Wendy, ready to get to the meeting point?"

Gray nods, stunned silent at the change in her personality and they follow her down the corridor, barely aware of Gildarts' announcement of the win.

As they walk down the corridor they come to another set of steps and they walk up, ignoring the damage from a previous battle when Chapati gives another call out.

"Rocker has been eliminated by Yuka, leaving Toby still in a deadlock with the plant mage from Quatro Cerberus."

The group of four share a look and pick up their pace until they're running down the halls.

"How long do you think until the battle is done?"

"From what Mavis said it shouldn't be long. We need to be on the top floor by the time it's over so we can begin the next step." Laxus doesn't spare a glance at the sky slayer as he explains this, instead focusing on not tripping on the large indents in the floor as they come to the final set of steps.

"And that is the end of that fight with Jäger taking down Toby and in turn being taken down by Lyon. Who would've thought it could end that way?"

"But, Chapati, the game isn't over yet. We still have both Fairy Tail teams, the full Sabertooth team, Lyon and Jura from Lamia Scale, Kugura from Mermaid Heel and Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus."

"Yajima, don't forget Crystal from the newcomer guild, Stele Cad. I would have to say that this game is really just starting. It's coming down to the line and now we have to see just who is gonna come out on top."

The group spreads out while others start coming up from below until everyone that is left is standing and waiting for someone to make a move. On the tower where Wendy first stood, Lucy turns to Erza.

"What do you think? Time to make some room?"

Erza nods and Lucy walks to the balcony to find Natsu while the requip mage looks for a certain ice mage.

"Natsu! Gray!"

The men, in turn, look at them and everyone not on the Fairy Tail teams feels a shiver at the look the ladies wear.

"Bring it down!"

Natsu and Gray grin as they run and jump over the balcony, their typical "Aye, Sir!" echoing through the arena. The competitors can only watch in confusion as Gray creates an ice slide under them.

Natsu lands on the slide first, igniting into a blaze as he crashes into the wall of the fortress and causing it to shake and tremble.

Gray follows him through the hole in the wall and the fortress begins shaking to such a point where Lyon loses his balance and falls to his knees.

Cracks appear under their feet and they can only watch helplessly as the fortress begins falling apart around them.

As the fortress falls over on the Fairy Tail balcony, Makarov turns to Mavis with an eyebrow arched. "Did you by any chance have anything to do with this, first master?"

Mavis giggles and nods. "Yes, I did, this way has an eighty-one percent chance of helping them bring down the opponents, compared to the twenty percent chance they would've had if they had stayed with the fortress intact. Plus, I wanted to see if Natsu and Gray can really be as destructive as I hear."

"Yes, let two of the most destructive men in our guild run amok on the last day of the Games." He deadpans, but it goes unnoticed by the ghost as she cheers on their guildmates.

Meanwhile, over in the dragon realm things aren't so peachy. On both sides of the table the dragons glare at each other, growls the only thing heard from them until Igneel breaks the silence by snapping at Weisslogia.

"I'm telling you, you ignorant light bulb, Fairy Tail is gonna win."

The light dragon slams his hands on the table. "And I'm telling you, you dimwit, that Sabertooth is gonna win."

The growling increases until Layla's voice causes the room to go quiet.

"That's enough out of both of you. Skiadrum, zoom in on the other side of the arena."

The shadow dragon picks up the controller sitting on the table and the cam in the Earthland realm dodges projectiles from the fighting as it moves closer to a man standing with his back against the wall and watching the fight intently.

As the image clears up from the time delay, Igneel freezes and looks back at Layla in shock.

"You don't think he?"

Layla's expression is grim as she nods. "If he's there he knows, and he's gonna move soon."

"Actually, I think he already has." To human ears, the words would've gone unnoticed but in a room of dragons, they all look at the suddenly pale chaos dragon.

"Queen Layla, he tried when they were at the water park the night before but he failed."

Layla's expression turns serious, her thoughts turning in milliseconds. "He won't stop until he gets what he wants, so we need to be prepared. Acnologia, go wake Celeste. We're gonna need her expertise with the portal system if we're to get ahead of the game."

Acnologia gets up and practically sprints out the door toward the landing and take-off zone.

Layla then turns back to the screen. "There is only so much we can do from here. For now, what are the bets on who's winning?"

Her attempts at bringing her back to the chamber are only partially successful as none of the dragons can shake the sense of foreboding their instincts are throwing on them.

Back in Earthland things are not so somber, the lurking threat not so much of a worry as Lucy dodges an aerial attack from Lyon's ice eagles while Natsu partners with Gajeel to battle against Jura.

In the passing time, Kagura has eliminated Quatro Cerberus from the game by taking Bacchus out and now fights against Erza and Mira. Laxus has taken Orga out and now fights against Sting. Jellal fights with Rogue and Gray takes on Minerva.

Wendy has won against Crystal and now she and Levy face off against Rufus, at least until Gajeel lands in between and gets up, rolling his shoulders. He glares at the Saint and looks at Levy.

"Oi, Shrimp, Squirt, trade ya a battle!"

Natsu squawks from where he jumps, avoiding Jura's attacks. "Have you lost it, lug nuts? We're doing just fine without trading!"

Gajeel rolls his eyes. "What's the matter, Salamander? Don't want to ruin your nails?"

The growl that comes from the slayer can be heard across the arena and the iron slayer watches with rapt attention as Natsu uses one of Jura's iron pillars to launch himself across the arena and land in front of him.

"You're lucky we're in the middle of the field or I'd kick your ass."

Gajeel gulps, his Adam's apple bobbing as he nods at the threat and sighs in relief when Natsu walks away to attack Rufus.

Two minutes later, Natsu walks by him, Rufus disappearing through the magic circle back to his balcony.

"I'm gonna help Luce with ice prick's brother, you should help the girls take down Jura."

Gajeel walks the opposite way, back to where Jura watches the entire encounter. The ladies follow him, giving each other confused looks and they launch into attacking the wizard saint.

Up in the announcer's booth, Gildarts wears an amused expression as he watches the battles wage on.

"And it looks like Minerva has defeated Gray Fullbuster, earning her team two more points to her total. As well as Natsu and Lucy defeating Lyon and gaining two points for Fairy Tail."

Gildarts stops, though, when he sees Minerva disappear and reappear behind Wendy and Levy. Before anything can be said, the Sabertooth woman has both fairies by their throats and has them dangling feet above the ground.

The battles around them stop, all eyes on the woman, and they watch as she drops Wendy and Levy after they pass out. The next few minutes are nothing but a blur as the Sabertooth team seems to be defeated in mere seconds flat and Lucy has Minerva pinned to the wall of the arena.

Lucy steps away from the wall and throws Minerva as if she's a ragdoll. She ends up rolling to a stop in front of Gajeel then stands and spits in his face.

Gajeel only has to hit her once and she's out of the game, leaving only Jura against the rest of the Fairy Tail teams.

He senses that it's an unfair fight and smiles. "I concede defeat. You win, Fairy Tail, enjoy it well."

The crowds are silent, his words processing, then Chapati clears his throat. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of day seven of the Games. Let's see what the scores say to see who won."

 _Fairy Tail A—106_

 _Fairy Tail B—105_

 _Sabertooth—92_

 _Lamia Scale—69_

 _Quatro Cerberus—53_

 _Mermaid Heel—48_

 _Stele Cad—38_

 _Blue Pegasus—26_

The scores come up crystal clear on the boards and the crowds break out into cheers.

"Fairy Tail wins the Grand Magic Games for the fourth consecutive year in a row!"

* * *

 **Y'know, it seems like I really bashed Blue Pegasus in the games. *shrugs* why wouldn't I? The trimen are weird. Jenny's a snob and Ichiya, *shivers* don't even get me started on him.**

 **But that's not why I'm here now. I'm here to announce that DKQ has officially hit 140 reviews. Now as promised I will be uploading a Cana oneshot I've had sitting around for about a month. It's called 'The Fortune Teller's Fortune' if y'all wanna go read it.**

 **Okay, hold up wait a minute. Did I really just say that so calmly? Let me redo that...**

 **DKQ HAS HIT 140 REVIEWS!**

 **And you know what?**

 **I have y'all to thank for it. It's because of y'all this story has become so popular. Without y'all it wouldn't have been possible. Now that that's out of my system, moving on.**

 ** _Strike,_ I'm afraid you're a little out of the ball park this time. But, you are correct, the final battle is approaching. Plans are being made, people are being watched.**

 ** _Sam,_ you're close with your guessing. I had planned to put in a little Natsu P.O.V. last chapter when she was caught to show how attuned to her he is but decided against it. As for Natsu scaring Gray, I had originally wanted to write Natsu scaring Lucy but went with Gray to delve a little more into detail about why he was scared on Day 3. But it also was very fun to write the cool, calm, level headed ice mage as being afraid of a normal animal. I'm glad that it made you laugh.**

 ** _00nighthowler00,_ I'm going, I'm going! I write these with the free time I have besides writing chapters for Magnolia crews every week, working on the next story, plotting for the sequel and plotting for the threequel of TOTD. Then I have college classes, plus on top of that I have to find a job by summer or I run a higher risk of my father kicking me out of the house since I'm 19. So have patience, the chapters are still coming out every week, aren't they?**

 ** _erinburkinshaw,_ This has yet to be seen, but again plans have been made and things are looking up for our little furry friends. More on this is hopefully to be seen in the next couple chapters.**

 ** _Pixel!_ I ain't trynna give you a heart attack! I'm glad you loved Ryuzetsu, I wanted to give it a go and I have to say it turned out pretty well. Also, Jace isn't as much of a creeper as the bossman is. If anything Jace looks like a hot 19 year old, trying to hit on Natsu's girl. Which btw I might add that she shot him down faster then ice cream melts in summer. To answer your question I've had ideas for plot for the threequel for a little while now but I've been too busy to sit down and try to work them out which is why it may be awhile yet until it comes out.**

 ***takes a deep breath* I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, if you did and you're returning, y'all know the deal. Leave me a review and let me know. As you can see I'm trying to comment on some of the things people are saying and explaining a bit about my stories without giving too much away. Now, if you're new, fave and follow not only the story but myself as well if you wanna see more. And if you ain't too busy, hop over and check out the one shot, I had a lot of fun writing it out.**

 **One more thing before I head out. There's a poll going on my profile, it has to do with the next story, so if you haven't already go vote on it.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. I'm looking for ideas for stories or one shots if y'all are interested.**


	27. Portal Where?

**Hey y'all, it's Monday again and I'm back with another chapter! Alright, if I remember correctly last time we left off with Fairy Tail winning the games, Blue Pegasus getting their asses kicked, Minerva getting royally stomped. Hmm, I'm forgetting something but what could it be?**

 **OH!**

 **Natsu and Lucy got their invite to the Guild's Gala!**

 **But that's about as much as I'm gonna give ya, so go read the chapter and I'll see you at the end.**

* * *

 **Chapter 27**

Portal Where?

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

"Luce, I can't get this tie thingy to stay put!"

I want to roll my eyes at my mate's whining but I can't or else I'd poke myself in the eye with my eyeliner.

Not a fun feeling.

So I put the pencil back in the case and lean back to see him glaring at the tie hanging around his neck in the mirror and I can't help the smile that pulls at my lips. He's just too cute when he's like this.

"You know, Natsu, you don't have to wear a tie."

He perks up almost immediately, pulls the tie off of his neck and burns it. I shake my head in amusement and walk out of the room. Stopping in front of him I straighten out his shirt, roll the collar back, and smooth out the wrinkles around his waist.

I feel his eyes burning through the back of my head so I look up only to see his full of love and adoration. He brings a hand up to cup my cheek and I lean into his warmth, almost purring from the feel of him.

"I love you."

These words from him, while short, carry more weight than anything I could possibly write and all I can do is wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him in return.

"Natsu, Lucy, it's time to go!"

He pulls away and I turn to look in the mirror while he gets the door. The dress I'm wearing is similar to Capricorn's star dress with slits on both sides of the skirt for easier movement, but it's tighter around the waist, the back dips lower, and it's sleeveless. The golden fabric shimmers as I move and in certain lighting looks like molten gold, which is part of the reason I got it. With Natsu being part dragon he loves to hoard gold, myself included, so why not play with him a bit? My hair is done in a simple bun with two braids tying into it, and I got Virgo to shine up my necklace if I flicked her nose as punishment.

"Lucy, you look adorable."

I turn to Clare and my smile drops when I take in her appearance, as in she's not dressed for the gala. "Clare, why aren't you dressed?"

She shrugs and looks away. "I don't have a dress fit for my human size and I wanted to surprise someone with my ability to control my transformation."

Even as she talks I see through her façade. I smile but it's more mischievous than anything and I arch an eyebrow at her. "Clare, would this by any chance be for a certain Exceed?" She blushes and I squeal. "I knew it, I knew it! You have a crush on Pantherlily!"

The next thing I know she has her hands covering my mouth and she's looking around. When she realizes what she's doing her hands drop and she avoids looking me in the eye.

"So what if I do? It's not like he's gonna notice me when he has Carla." Her shoulders drop as she says this and we both look over when we hear Natsu snort.

"Clare, trust me when I say he is not interested in Carla. Happy's got her all to himself whenever she pulls her tail out of her ass." He stops abruptly when I glare at him and I try a different approach.

"Clare, he's only had eyes for you since the first day. Why do you think he drops whatever he's doing with Gajeel and Levy to spend time with you?" Her blush slowly fades away and when she looks me in the eye I give her a genuine smile. "Good, now let's get you cleaned up and in a dress. I think Virgo may be able to tailor one of mine in the time we have to fit you."

"Luce, we're gonna be late if we don't leave soon."

I walk over to the closet and start looking through what I have. "Natsu, you can just go on ahead and we'll catch up. It shouldn't take long to get Clare ready."

He sighs through his nose and out of the corner of my eye I see a cloud of smoke appear when he exhales. "Fine." Then he grins. "'Sides I can have time to mess with Lily before you two get there."

Just as I turn to pin him with a glare he's grabbing his coat and walking out the door, leaving me with a madly blushing Exceed who looks like she's about to pass out from embarrassment.

After twenty minutes she calms down and I manage to get her to change into the dress. A sexy off the shoulder red number with a slit up to the hip. It doesn't quite fit around the waist and more often than not she steps on her tail so I call Virgo out to let her have at it.

When she appears Clare squeaks and Virgo seems to get the idea. She's calm and not so excited as she normally is when I call her out.

She bows to me and I smile in return. "Virgo, would you mind tailoring the dress to fit Clare? Please?"

Her eyes spark with excitement and she turns to the Exceed. "I would be happy to help you, Ms. Clare."

"You know, if you're looking for a date, I'm your lion."

I roll my eyes at the voice and turn to see Loke laying stretched out on the bed.

"Sorry, Loke, but she has a date, and as you know so well if Natsu finds out you're flirting with me he'll burn you."

He groans and rolls back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "I know, but when I asked Aries to join me for a dance or two she turned me down. She _turned me down._ She's never done that before."

"Did she say why she turned you down?"

He sits up and running a hand through his hair, shrugs. "Something about keeping the canis minor spirits from ruining Aquarius's date."

"Big brother, you know that Aries would drop anything to go with you, but the nicola have been particularly troublesome lately and only she can keep them distracted enough to not bug Aquarius."

Loke pushes his glasses up his nose and sighs. "I know, Virgo, I know, I just wanted to bring her as my date."

As he talks I start getting an idea and turn to him. "You know, Loke, you should go help her." He looks at me in confusion and I elaborate. "If you go help her then you'll be spending time with her and you could call it a date."

The confusion disappears and is replaced with his usual grin. "Thanks, Lucy, I think I will. Have fun at the ball and make sure you tell Natsu I was not flirting."

I nod, smiling, and he disappears to the spirit world leaving the three of us alone.

Five minutes later, Virgo steps back and Clare looks at me. "What do you think?"

Tapping my finger on my chin, I twirl my right index in a circle and she copies the movement. When she stops I smile. "It's perfect, Clare, I think he'll love it. Now, let's get your hair done, get you some flats, and we'll be set to go. Only the gods know what kind of trouble he's already gotten himself into."

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

The music floats around the ballroom and I watch as Metalhead and Ice Prick take their dates across the floor. So far, the ball looks like fun but now I'm bored. It's been hours since I left Luce and Clare at the inn and they should be here by now. Knowing her and Virgo they would've been done in no time, but as of yet I've seen hide nor hair of them.

I have a bad feeling but so far I can't tell if it's from watching Elfman trying to do the waltz or if it has to do with Luce. I'm gonna bet on the former just to be on the safe side.

"Natsu, what's the matter?"

I look up to see Lisanna sitting down across from me and frown. "Luce should have been here by now. I'm starting to get worried."

She smiles, trying to get me to relax but I can't. "Relax, Natsu, she's fine. She probably just got held up."

Giving her a fake smile, I nod and she walks over to where Bickslow sits with Freed and Laxus.

It's not much later, maybe five minutes that the lights dim and a hologram appears over the railing of the second floor. My stomach drops when I recognize the pictures of the portal cavern and it drops even further when a man with slick black hair steps into the picture.

"Hello, mages, and might I say, Fairy Tail, congratulations on winning number one again. Now, you're probably wondering why I'm interrupting your ball. Well you see, you mages are harboring a person I need to complete my plans. This person knows who they are and if you need any coaxing I should probably show you this."

The camera turns and my stomach bottoms out when I see Lucy and Clare tied up. Luce is unconscious and I can practically see the fear rolling off the Exceed.

"Now then, if you come quickly and quietly I may let your queen live for a little longer after the seal is broken, but if you bring any support then neither of you will live past the door opening. Pick wisely, young king, for her fate rests on your shoulders."

My magic builds under my skin and I see people back away from me as I stand and walk down a hall, looking for the closest window for me to get out.

Footsteps rush up to me and I feel someone set a hand on my shoulder only for them to jerk back, no doubt from the heat rising off of me.

"Natsu, wait!"

I stop in front of the window and turn to glare at the stripper. "No, Gray, it's time this stopped. It's because of these pricks the portals were sealed in the first place. He wants us to break the seal, then that's what I'm gonna do."

He snorts. "Idiot, I was gonna say that you're not going alone, Lucy's like a sister to me and I wanna help get her back."

More footsteps approach and I turn to see Gramps leading the other slayers along with Mira, Erza, and Levy.

I look at the old man in confusion and notice his expression is serious as he gestures to the others behind him. "Natsu, the other slayers are coming with you. If anyone is gonna be safe around the portal it'll be them."

My mind turns over quickly and I look at Rogue. "Kick into your shadow drive, it'll be faster and easier to slip between any guards they have."

He frowns in confusion but does so as I turn to the others and split them up, some traveling with me while the others travel with Rogue. When it's done I kick up my shadow drive and let the shadows engulf me and the rest of the group traveling with me.

When Rogue's ready to go I stop at the windowsill to see Gramps walking away and we slip out into the night.

 **Normal P.O.V.**

As the shadows slip away into the darkness the cams follow close behind, keeping a sharp eye out.

In the dragon realm things are just as troubled. In the room where the portal sits a large whitish screen hovers over it, covered in markings that all dragons present except the celestial are unable to read.

Finally, Celeste lets her hands fall causing the screen to fade away and shakes her head in frustration. "This isn't good, Layla, if they attempt to break the seal with how the energy levels are now, they'll lose their lives for nothing. The seal hasn't had enough time to gather the energy needed."

The queen nods, her expression hidden behind a blank mask.

"What if the hunters have energy stored?"

Everyone turns to Weisslogia and he gestures at Celeste. "Bring the energy readers up again."

She does so quickly and Light walks up to the screen then points at a chart. "See, right there. It's reading an abnormally high amount of energy for just being in the cavern."

"Why wouldn't it just be from the mages being near it, Light?"

Weisslogia doesn't turn to his brother but shakes his head. "No, Shadow, I built these detectors myself, designed specifically for reading natural magic around the portals. That amount of energy can only be from charged lacrima, no others would be able to hold it."

"Say it is charged lacrima, how long have they been there and how are they able to have that much build up?"

Light cups his chin with his hand while his foot taps an unknown rhythm.

"You're all idiots." The males turn to the new voice to see Grandine just entering the room and Layla arches an eyebrow.

"Please, do explain."

Grandine pushes Weisslogia out of the way and pulls up the screen of the arena from earlier while the sun is still in the sky. She zooms in on the wall and points at what looks like a decoration of the stadium.

"The hunters aren't as dumb as they look. The portal is underneath the arena, therefore, they took transfer lacrima—"

"Camouflaged it as stone decorations where it gathers the expelled magic from the battling mages, then transfers it underground to the charged lacrima. Grandine, you're a genius." Weisslogia finishes her statement.

Grandine snorts and the light dragon takes back over the conversation, waving his hands as he talks. "It would only take say about a week to gather the amount of energy they have gathered, especially with the strong spells that were used."

Then Igneel steps up, pointing out the one thing everyone else seems to be missing. "What does that mean for our kids?"

Celeste kicks Weisslogia away from the door, bringing up her original screens, and ignores him as she does calculations. "If what the dork said is true then taking into effect the amount of energy being stored and if Natsu and Lucy are at full energy then the chances increase that they will survive."

"Celeste?" The celestial dragon stops mid-move and looks at Layla. "What are the numbers?"

She hums for a second then grimaces. "The numbers aren't as good as they would be if they waited a couple years, but as it is the chances increase from single digit survival to double digit possibility."

Layla nods and the dragons wait for her decision. "Only time will tell if they'll be able to do it. For now, the only thing we can do is prepare and keep the cams up and running."

The dragons nod and disperse, Light and Shadow moving to keep track of the cams, Celeste focusing on the portal while Igneel, Grandine, and Acnologia follow Layla to her study.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Getting to the arena is easy, slipping through the ring of guards, even easier. Trying to get everyone to be quiet when we climb out of the shadows… Not so easy.

I look around the corner of the tunnel into the arena and count at least ten guards walking the edge of the stands and watching the field.

"Flame Brain, why are we here?"

I growl and turn back to look at Gray. "Because, stripper, the portal is underneath the arena."

"Wait, the portal is—" I jump across the tunnel, slamming Gajeel against the wall with my hand over his mouth and pray to the gods the guards are too dumb to look in the tunnels.

"The portal is under the arena, Lug Nuts, if you remember the day when Mira broke the floor. Luce decided she was gonna free jump into it. That's how we found it."

He nods and letting him go, I return to my spot at the edge of the tunnel.

"So, what do we do?"

I take a deep breath and try to think of a plan when the plan presents itself to me in the form of Virgo appearing next to me.

"Prince, I cannot reach princess."

Looking her over I start to hedge my bets. "Virgo, when you appeared did your sign light up on Luce?"

She shakes her head and my idea soars. "Virgo, dig us a tunnel to the bone cavern, _away_ from trouble."

She tilts her head and I already know what she's gonna ask. "Punishment, prince?"

I sigh. "No, Virgo, just please dig the tunnel."

She nods and walks further into the tunnel before digging down. I immediately follow behind, jumping into the tunnel, and I hear the others follow.

A couple minutes later and the spirit stops digging. She pulls one rock down and it opens up to the bone cavern. As she goes back to the spirit realm I pull myself over the edge and grimace when I realize that she's placed the hole so that it's located inside a set of bones.

"That spirit has a weird sense of humor."

I snort in amusement at the comment but otherwise stay quiet as I look over the people running around. One in particular catches my eye and I growl soft and low as I watch the guy from the other night disappear into the portal cavern.

More sounds come from a different side of the cavern and we all look that way to see more people walking in. My stomach drops at how many people are flooding the chamber and I turn back to the others, a plan forming.

"Ice princess, Wendy, you're coming with me." I look at Metalhead and Laxus and grin. "We're gonna need a distraction to slip in there unnoticed, you up for a fight?"

Laxus snorts and rises from a crouch as he walks past me. "Don't ever ask me if I need help putting up a distraction."

Gajeel scowls, following after him, and I look back when Mira lays a hand on my shoulder.

"Go save Lucy and Clare, we'll clean up the mess out here."

I nod and we wait long enough for lightning and metal to start flying before running toward the entrance to the portal cavern.

* * *

 **Alright, lets start off with this fact:**

 **As those of you who read my other story 'The Magnolia Crews' knows, Natsu and Lucy take on a much bigger leadership role and it's to do in that story. Now take the fact that I write those chapters the same time I write these chapters, add in the fact that Natsu and Lucy can't have as big a leadership role in this story and what do you get?**

 **One hell of a time trying to dial back the leading. I'm being serious, it was really hard for me to write the last part because I couldn't make Natsu as bossy as he is in crews. I think I spent like an entire day rewriting the second part of his P.O.V. because it seemed to me that he was falling into his 'Crews' role instead of the role he has in this story. I'm hoping that it turned out okay but I'm leaving that up to you to decide.**

 **Next on the list:**

 **CLIFF HANGER! *cackles* They are _infuriating_ , but you gotta love them. The suspense, the questions, oh man, y'all have gotta be hating me right now. But I know ya love me.**

 **Big piece of news for ya:**

 **There's only three more chapters to this story.**

 **I know it's sad news but you'll be glad to know that a sequel will be guaranteed and that I'm in the middle of plotting it out. I already have the title and a summary written out so here's what I'm gonna do for ya.**

 _ **If we hit 175 reviews by Chapter Thirty then in the closing A/N of Chapter Thirty I will leave you with the title and summary.**_

 **That's only if y'all hit that goal before Chapter Thirty.**

 **Now onto the reviews:**

 ** _Strike,_ I gotta admit the multiple personalities is hilarious. Wesley was right, the hunters have sabotaged the ball but I don't think anyone saw it coming with the way they did. Okay maybe he did, they captured Lucy. But COME ON I've had this plotted since the beginning of March. I'm gonna stop you right there about Stele Cad, they are NOT the enemy, they are a light guild like any other, they just also happened to make it into the games. And thank you, when the idea to collapse the hit me I started cackling because I knew no one would see it coming.**

 ** _Multyfangirl19,_ I'm not sure what you mean about Blue Pegasus, They are strong allies, but in my opinion they flirt too much and Ichiya freaks me out a little too much so I just went with my gut and turned them into the down and out team where as in the manga that team happened to be Quatro Cerberus.**

 ** _Sam,_ Like Strike you've once again managed to read my mind. The villains have struck and the final battle is on the horizon. This is unrelated to this story but I feel I should warn you that this Wednesday a surprise is in store with our favorite shifter. Also I'm glad to hear you like the one shot and wth is a Waifu?**

 ** _Crystalic Lotus,_ Another one down, Another down, Another one bites the dust. Lmao, I had to. XD**

 ** _Hime,_ Um *tilts head* You may wanna get your screws tightened before your head rolls away. I've already P.M. you about Natsu and Lucy mating but the pet toast that spits fire and flies, yeah I'm reading that for like the hundredth time and I'm still chuckling. But if you want something that spits fire and flies then GET A DRAGON. They're much more fun and they don't leave crumbs all over the place. You can't go to the mental hospital just yet! This story ain't finished!**

 ** _Pixie Pixel,_ It's official, that's my nickname for you from now on! Where the hell do I start? *skims review and shrugs* Might as well dive in head first, NATSU STYLE! XD Dude, Cana is always gonna be the one to ramp the party up. What exactly makes you think she spiked their drinks? Maybe they asked her to bring the liquor. Seven Hells, if I had a friend like her I know I would. I'm glad Mira scared you, I had fun writing that out since you don't always see Mira doing anything like that. But if you haven't noticed Natsu really isn't afraid of Mira and Erza any more. That kind stopped after his training. the Levy and Lucy part. That friendship is just something I can play with to no extent. The reason why is because I have a friend that we act almost like Levy and Lucy. We have our calm times where we can sit and talk about anything then there are times where we can pick up sticks and have a sword fight while waiting for the public transpo shuttle. True story. Dude, COME ON! We all knew from the start that Fairy Tail was gonna win but I still had to give the other guilds a fighting chance. Speaking of fighting, Lucy may have been the first one to Minerva but she didn't finish her off, that right went to Gajeel. Why? Wendy is like his sister and I'm a huge ass Gajeel and Levy fan. What's really funny is that every time Stele and I talk about Ichiya we actually call him Itchy, it's too funny to pass up. Finally we come to the end, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the hunters have struck and nothing is safe.**

 **Holy shit I write a lot.**

 **Anyway I have to go, I have a job interview coming up in a few hours. To my returning and my new readers, 175 reviews by Chapter Thirty earns you the title and summary of the sequel so make sure that you do review. If you have not done so yet, make sure you fave and follow not just this story but myself as well.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**

 **P.S. Why can't coffee be infinite? T.T**


	28. Stop Them!

**Hey, y'all! It's Monday and I'm back with another chapter of DKQ. Now, what the hell happened last chapter? Hold on one second and I'll refresh our memories.**

 **Previously on DKQ:**

 _Gajeel scowls, following after him, and I look back when Mira lays a hand on my shoulder._

 _"Go save Lucy and Clare, we'll clean up the mess out here."_

 _I nod and we wait long enough for lightning and metal to start flying before running toward the entrance to the portal cavern._

 **Good enough of a refresher? Good, go read the chapter and I'll see y'all at the end with some important information.**

* * *

 **Chapter 28**

Stop Them!

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

Explosions sound off behind us and I push Gray and Wendy into the shadows as more people come running down the tunnel.

I lift my head out of the shadow, turning first to the way we came then to the darkness leading to the portal cavern. When I'm sure the coast is clear I step out allowing the others to follow as we break into a run.

Wendy shoots ahead of me and I have to grab her by her shirt when she trips on her feet to keep her from falling into the cavern and alerting them. I growl softly, pulling her back to her feet, then behind me.

We reach the end of the tunnel and I take the chance to observe the chaos.

In the corners of the cavern I count at least twenty stands holding five glowing lacrima the size of my head. The brackets remind me of a small tree with two arms holding each lacrima, one above the other. On the other side of the room a group of five of the hunters surround something.

I take a closer look and my nails dig into the wall when I realize the something is actually two someones. Namely Lucy and Clare.

A man in a black trench coat walks up to them. He grabs Luce by her chin, then drops her when Clare spits at him. He looks at the Exceed and while his back is turned I turn to Gray and Wendy.

"You two go free the girls, I'm gonna create another distraction."

They frown but I'm already stepping out of the tunnel and into the light cast from several lacrima. The hunters remaining in the cavern don't notice me right away so I take the chance to come up with an insult to grab the guy's attention.

When one comes to mind I school my look.

"Oi, Slappy Mc Jackass, get the hell away from my mate and the Exceed!"

As the guy turns away from Clare I catch a glimpse of the stripper and Wendy sneaking behind some crates.

"Well, well, Mr. Dragneel, so kind of you to grace us with your presence."

The oily tone the guy uses draws my attention back to him and I growl sharp and low, my flames beginning to crawl up from my fingers.

"Look, give me my mate, let the Exceed go, and I won't turn you to ashes."

The guy actually has the nerve to laugh and shakes his head in amusement. "You see, Mr. Dragneel, I can't do that. You and your _mate_ as you so barbarically put it are the pieces in a game that has been in play for nigh on twenty years now, and I'm not about to throw it all away."

I itch to just start clawing his eyes out but stall myself when I see Gray and Wendy take down the guards behind Lucy. I just need to stall long enough for them to get out of harm's way then I can let loose.

"And what kind of game, you sniveling boot licker, have you been playing that involves us or the dragons?" I surprise myself with how smooth my question comes out and I watch as his lips curl into a sneer.

"In all honesty this was never supposed to include you or the blonde bimbo you chose, I just wanted everything Layla Heartfilia had to her name and the key to Igneel's hoard." He turns away and I bite my tongue hard enough to taste blood to keep from burning him to ash. "But then that foolish son of mine had to jump through the portal and kill that nest."

I freeze at his off hand comment and the heat under my skin intensifies, any idea of staying cool headed long gone. "Your son killed off the chaos dragons?" At the edge of my hearing I make out the telltale sign of crashing from above but I'm too focused on the guy to care.

He turns back to me with an eyebrow arched. "Why would you care about those emotion meddling lizards, I mean after all one did try to kill you and your precious guildmates?"

"The guild is my family but so are the dragons, Acnologia and any that choose the chaos element as well."

When he laughs this time I look over to see Wendy and Gray helping Lucy to her feet and I take the chance to unleash a surprise attack on him. He wants to talk about chaos then I can do chaos. Moving with ease, I jump until I'm standing in front of him. Bringing my left hand up, I keep it palm down and level with my mouth. My right hand I lower until it's level with my stomach and palm up.

"Chaos Dragon's Darkening Veil!"

Before the spiraling mist even has a chance to touch him it turns bright red and explodes in my face sending me flying back. I hit the wall and I have to lay there a second to gather my senses. When I get up my ears are ringing and my eyesight is blurred.

 **Lucy P.O.V.**

My eyes go wide when I see Natsu's attack get thrown back at him and I act quickly, pushing Gray away and turning Wendy. "Wendy, give Natsu the defense spells!"

She nods and I walk toward the boss. "Open, Gate of the Lion: Leo! Open, Gate of the Sea Goat: Capricorn! Star Dress: Virgo!"

Capricorn and Loke appear at my sides even as Virgo's maid outfit and chains change out the torn up dress I had been wearing. The familiar feel of fleuve d'étoiles settles in my left hand but I look down in surprise when a second similar weight settles in my right.

"Lady Lucy, it would appear that Virgo wants you to punish your captors." Looking up at Capricorn as he says this I grin and look back at the lead hunter.

"For once I like her idea of punishment, lets go."

They jump forward and I flick my wrists, enjoying the crack that comes from the twin whips, before following them. When I get close enough I swing with my right hand and manage to grab the hunter by his ankle. Loke takes the chance to aim a knee for his chin only for the hunter to grin and Loke to go flying back from a smaller explosion.

I look up when a rock hits me and only then do I realize the ceiling has large cracks spreading through it. First thing I do is look to my spirits.

"Capricorn, Loke, go back to the spirit realm, _now_."

When they go back I swing the twin whips, splitting the rock that would've hit Wendy and look around for Natsu.

 **Natsu P.O.V.**

"Natsu!"

I look up when I realize I heard my name and climb to my feet, the defensive boosts helping me to straighten out. I move out of the way of the falling rocks and jump across the room to land next to Lucy where she wields two whips and is cutting through the bigger rocks.

From above I can make out yelling and from the cracks in the ceiling I recognize the scent of whiskey and destruction. I grin, grabbing Luce by her waist and pulling her back just as the ceiling shatters into many small cubes.

Definitely Gildarts' work.

She starts fighting, trying to get out of my arms and I tighten my hold. "Relax, Luce, it's Gildarts with back up."

She stops fighting me and we look up when the smoke clears. For picking himself up out of the rubble is the s-class mage.

He grins when he sees us and walks over. "Natsu, I'm glad to see you got Lucy back, now are you ready to clean this up?"

I grin. "Hell yeah, let's get to it."

Even as the words leave my mouth the tunnel rumbles with many more hunters pouring through the opening. I turn my head, angling my ear to the tunnel and when I hear the sounds of fighting, realize that the others are still going at it.

Lucy pulls away from me, her expression thoughtful. Then when she does look at me I see the glitter of ice in her eyes even as the temperature starts to drop.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Not really, but I nod anyway and watch as she steps further away, one hand folded in the other.

Copying her actions, I take a deep breath and we swing our hands around, slamming one to the ground.

"Ice Dragon's Frozen Catacomb!"

The ice spreads out from our hands, sprinting across the floor and turning it into a room of grotesque sculptures. It races up the walls, through the opening and on into the night, the magic required to stretch increasing with every foot. When it covers the walls of the hole up to the surface we drop the spell.

While it slows the hunters down, causing them to slip and slide across the floor, it does nothing to take them out and when ten of them dig their feet in, aiming at us we jump.

Every time we take down one, two more fill the position and just as we start getting swamped the impossible happens.

"Card Magic, Lightning Fire!"

Lightning and fire appears around us and when we turn around we're greeted with the sight of Cana holding another set of cards ready to fire and the Exceeds each holding a deck of cards.

Cana turns to the Exceeds and from where I stand, dangling a hunter in the air by his shirt, I can see her drunken grin.

"Alright guys, drop the cards and step out of the way."

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Natsu punches the guy's lights out and turns his head to watch as the cats spread the cards then fly closer to Cana. When they're close enough Cana connects her hands at the wrists, turning them in a counterclockwise motion and claps them together. The magic circle created from the motion spreads throughout the room causing the cards to glow and people to form.

The people stand straight and when the glow disappears Makarov walks up to where Natsu and Lucy stand in the middle of a pile of hunters, unharmed saved for a few bruises and scratches.

Natsu grins and walking past the twitching limb of an unconscious hunter, stops in front the guild master.

"Gramps, what took you so long?"

The sound of fighting rolling down the hall distracts the guild master before they can reply and everyone turns to watch as the group causing the distraction pours out of the tunnel, Gajeel and Laxus turning back to deliver another attack before they stop in front of Makarov.

Laxus takes a deep breath, stands straight and turns to his grandfather. "Gramps, it took you long enough to get down here, they just keep coming—" His statement comes to a stop as he takes in the sight of the ice encompassed cavern then turns to Natsu.

"Next time why don't you come help us instead of sitting here and shooting the bull."

Natsu growls, fire surrounding him as his restraint reaches it's end and no one notices the moving rubble on the other side of the cavern until evil chuckling echoes through the room.

When they turn to the source of the sound Natsu has to grab Lucy to keep her from jumping at the lead hunter where he holds Clare at sword point. Lucy growls so suddenly that everyone around her look at the celestial mage in surprise.

"Listen here, dickhead, give me back the Exceed and I won't turn you to ash."

He throws his head back as he laughs, missing the look of courage Clare takes on. The next thing he know he has a face full of feathers and Clare is jumping out of his grasp only to trip on a pile of debris and fall to the ground.

She looks, her eyes going wide with fear when he snarls. The sword that was pointed at her swings through the air and she can only close her eyes waiting for the inevitable sound of sword meeting flesh.

However when she opens her eyes she finds herself looking at a black furred back as Panther Lily fends off the sword with his own then pushes on his sword, his lips curled in a snarl.

The hunter backs away, aiming his sword in a downswing and Lily meets him, sparks flying as the swords make contact. Slowly, ever so slowly Lily maneuvers the hunter around until they're away from Clare and when the hunter swings again Lily steps out of the way allowing the sword to bounce off of golden scales.

Around them battles rage on, the many hunters finally having filtered into the cavern, with mages from all the guilds meeting them head on.

He looks up in surprise, only to scowl when he makes eye contact with the blazing blonde. "Ms. Heartfilia, surely you realize you cannot win against me?"

Lucy snarls in turn and when he swings the sword she rips it from his hand. She takes a bite out of it, ripping the metal to shreds and when only the wooden hilt remains she tosses it over her shoulder, rolling her shoulders in preparation.

"One thing, hunter, you apparently haven't learned is that Fairy Tail will always win. Water Dragon's Wave Slicer!"

Dark blue water wraps around her outstretched hand and she strikes quickly, leaving four long scratches along the hunter's face.

He raises a hand to his face, the fingers coming away with blood and he scowls. "If you want to act like a barbarian then so be it."

The next time she comes around for an attack, the water in front of her flashes red, exploding, and sends her flying back. Her flight is halted, though, when a ball of water surrounds her and she turns over, looking over to where Juvia stands concentrating on the water lock while Gray and Lyon watch her back.

Lucy grins, her mind going back to a lesson of Aqua's and she reaches up, pulling her limiters off. Almost as soon as they leave her skin mages and hunters alike stumble from the power swamping the area.

The leader hunter watches her with horrified surprise and he can do nothing as she raises her hands above her head then slams them forward until they reach the surface of the water lock, the chant echoing.

"Water Serpent: Rising Geyser!"

* * *

 **CLIFFHANGERS! Gotta love them! But don't worry, the reason behind this is because I didn't finish this chapter until midnight last night, and it only got done then because I was able to talk to ShanaHollows and get some ideas out that were kind of gluing my train of thought in place. But it's done and there are some other things to discuss.**

 **Now, as you know this story is almost over, there's only two weeks left before I mark DKQ as complete and move onto my next story. HOWEVER, all is not lost. There is a sequel in the works and like I told y'all last week, I'm willing to spoil you with the title and summary in the closing A/N of Chapter 30.**

 **There is a catch to that.**

 **I would like to see this story hit 175 reviews before Chapter 30. _You read that right, if y'all can hit 175 reviews before Chapter 30 then in the closing A/N of the final chapter I will leave you with the title and summary of the sequel._**

 **This goal is possible. I know y'all can reach it, and I'm hoping you do.**

 **Onto other things, A certain someone *cough* sam *cough* has asked if I would give you the summary for the next story I plan to upload as just from the title he think's it sounds similar to 'Magnolia Crews'. 'Life Behind Bars' is an M- rated story but it's a completely different AU then Crews.**

 **Crews is my mob/ mafia AU. LBB is as the title suggest, a prison AU. With that said I'm feeling generous and it spent me an hour to come up with so here you go:**

 **Life Behind Bars**

 ** _Two serial killers. He meets her. She meets him. The impossible happens and the two fall in love. One day she disappears and the next time they meet is in prison. Can the two jail birds keep the flame alive or is life behind bars too much?_**

 **Short and simple, I KNOW, give me a break. When I get the time, or if something better hits me then I'll put up something different. For right now, though, that's what you get.**

 **Next up on the list: Um, OH! reviews.**

 ** _multyfangirl19,_ Randomness makes up life. Plus some of the random stuff I read from reviews like yours truly makes me smile. Why would I take a month to update this? I haven't done that since November or December, seriously after the new year I've pushed myself to have these chapters out every week. Well except for that one week but that was because I was swamped with school work.**

 ** _Strike,_ *ducks to avoid stampede* gotta give me a sec to boil this down. As for your review you saw how The lead hunter is able to defeat dragons, his magic turns their attacks back on them as an explosion. As for Clare and Lily... *swoons* I did an amazing job with their adorable factor. The scene with Lily protecting Clare is actually one of the ideas I went into this chapter with so I'm happy with how it turned out. Btw, be perverted again and I'm having Lucy kick you back to WWII. *stink eye* YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

 ** _Sam,_ I'm awake! don't throw any M.R.E.'s at me! All jokes aside. There's not really much for me to talk about in this one but I do have to say that Natsu would definitely be my husbando, though if I was to go that way I would pick Cana as my waifu. What can I say? Crazy calls to Crazy. XD. For Kuma, she's pretty much me, character wise, the way I act, the way I look, though I don't have any tattoos yet. Also, I'm glad to know that you don't think Natsu turned out too much like his Crews role.**

 ** _Hime,_ NO TOAST DRAGONS! I am not gonna be the one vacuuming crumbs up all the live long day. Btw when I read your review to Mom she cracked up laughing. Mary Poppins is her favorite movie and to hear someone want to name an animal, even if it is imaginary, that was just really funny. Believe me when I say the psychiatric ward DOES NOT have wifi. Also they don't let you have cords of any kind so you wouldn't be able to charge your device to read my stories.**

 ** _FairyTail9908,_ I'm glad to hear you think that.**

 ** _Nighthowler,_ Before the sequel can come out I would like some time to finish planning it and actually have some chapters written. As for this one ending, by the time I uploaded the third chapter of this I already had this planned to only go to 25 chapters, so I would say that we're lucky it's gotten this far.**

 ** _Shad,_ I'm working on it, any chance I get I'm constantly writing for my stories.**

 ** _Guest,_ cliffhangers are there just to piss my readers off and give me a break to back away and clear my mind before I dive back in to several different universes constantly playing on a loop in my mind. In majority of my stories I'm thinking like ten, twenty chapters ahead of where I'm actually at, and so those scenes will keep replaying until I manage to write them out.**

 ** _Pixie Pixel,_ you won't even know what toast is until you read next chapter. Seriously, Carnage is what these chapters are all about, well that and me getting to play around with some new spells. Example: Chaos magic imagination strikes again. Hehe. Aye, when my friend and I are together it's like cirque de crazy has come to town, but honestly I wouldn't wish it any other way. We've known each other since middle school, and I see her more as a sister then I do a friend. I value friendship as one of my greatest virtues, but it's extremely hard for me to make true friends so I'm lucky beyond all hell to have found her. Anyway I'm rambling. *arches eyebrow* did it seriously not cross your mind that they asked her to help forget their troubles? Dude, more then anything I LOVE the cracked Levy theory. Like seriously, the reason Gajeel loves Levy is not only because she's so short and has a fiery temper but because she's off kilter and it makes her a joy to be around. For the ships sitting in my harbor, it would seem that we do.**

 **Alright, now that that's done, all I have to say is:**

 **TO MY NEW READERS: Fave and follow not just this story but myself as well so you'll know when I drop my new story and any one shots that I may think of.**

 **TO MY OLD READERS: Y'all know the deal, leave a review to let me know what you think. 175 reviews earns you the title and summary of the sequel in the closing A/N of Chapter 30.**

 **Now I have a headache and I still have to transfer more chapters from my writing app to my google docs, until next time.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	29. It's Time

**Good Morning, y'all, now before we move into the chapter I just want everyone to take second and go crazy. Do you wanna know why?**

 **We've hit the goal.**

 **That's right, These past couple weeks I've been asking y'all to hit 175 reviews and I'd give you the title and summary of the sequel in the closing A/N of the final chapter, aka Chapter 30. And y'all have done it. This story is by far my most popular story and though I'm sad to see it end, I'm also glad that y'all have enjoyed the trip.**

 **Now go read the chapter and I'll see y'all at the end.**

* * *

Chapter 29

It's Time

 **Normal P.O.V.**

"Water Serpent: Rising Geyser!"

A magic circle appears parallel to the water lock with another appearing both above and below, equaling to three aimed at the lead hunter. The hunter himself can only watch as three geysers of water fly over the ground toward him.

They strike him head on, knocking him across the cavern where another fight rages on.

When the hunter hits the wall near him, Natsu pays him no mind. Instead, he dodges the flying wooden crate and snarls at the blonde-haired male.

Jace smirks. "What's the matter, dragon? You upset I flirted with your girlfriend?" Behind him a crate disassembles itself before flying at Natsu, entrapping him in a vortex of debris.

Natsu snorts. "Like hell I'd be mad about that. No, I'm pissed I didn't turn you to ash at Ryuzetsu Land for almost killing my mate."

The vortex of debris slows down as the telepathy mage seems to pale. Natsu cracks his knuckles then tilts his head until an audible crack can be heard and when he grins, it's maniacal. "Good, you know what the penalty for nearly destroying a fire dragon's treasure is."

Jace backpedals when Natsu ignites into a ball of flames, but he has no chance to escape before a wall of blistering hot air seals him in. The fire dragon closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and when he opens them Jace whimpers at the sight of the sharp emerald green that meets him.

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Shattering Light: Explosive Sky Drill!"

Fire colors the drill of air a startling blood red as it bears down on the telepathy mage. He closes his eyes, accepting his fate and the attack hits home.

When the dust clears the telepathy mage is no more and the hunters stop in their fights to look at the pile of ashes with wide eyes. Almost as soon as the fact registers half of them turn and flee down the tunnel, having the sense to know when the fight is lost. The other half that remains, trying to fight, is quickly overrun and taken down.

Natsu stands up, shaking off the drain the spell had on his magic, and wanders over to where Lucy stands talking to Pantherlily and Clare. As he gets closer he notes with some satisfaction that Lily has an arm curled possessively around Clare's waist while the female Exceed seems to finally be calming down.

He stops next to Lucy, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulls her close. He nuzzles against her neck, her scent of strawberries and vanilla soothing him.

She turns in his arms as the Exceeds walk away and frowns at the look in his eyes. "Are you okay, Natsu?"

"Yeah, I'm just glad this is finally over." He sighs as he pulls away.

"I'm afraid it's not over, my boy." They look up at the voice and Lucy's frown deepens at the sight of the guild masters approaching.

"What do you mean, Master?" Lucy's question is quiet and yet her voice seems to carry throughout the cavern, drawing the attention of the congregation of other guilds.

Master Makarov seems to sigh, his expression unreadable. "What I am saying, dear Lucy, is that you must complete what the hunters started—"

"And break the seal." The couple looks up when Gildarts appears from the crowd. He grimaces, as if the words are acid rolling off his tongue and when he meets their gaze he almost looks as if he's pleading for forgiveness. "It is the only way the realms can be put back in order. The hunters have done too much to the seal for it to remain stable long enough to gather the remaining energy needed."

Lucy unconsciously leans closer to Natsu and the fire slayer looks at Makarov, eyebrows furrowed. "What happens if the seal becomes unstable?"

"There is a very real risk of the seal tearing both realms apart at the seams." Gasps chorus from the crowd, no one willing to make a sound as the decision weighs heavily in the air.

Suddenly, Lucy squares her shoulders, stepping back from Natsu and a silent agreement passes between them. Makarov seems to understand as he steps out of the way, letting the duo through. Solemnly, they walk through the crowd to the center of the room, the hidden portal pulsing even stronger then when Loke revealed it to them.

When the crowd backs away, allowing them room to move, Lucy goes to walk to the other side only for Natsu to pull her back. He captures her lips in a kiss and when she pulls away, the love in his onyx eyes can't be denied.

"Lucy, whatever happens, remember that I love you and I am yours forever." His words are so low that even she has trouble hearing them, but when she does she smiles. Leaning in, she kisses him in return then with a whisper she's gone, moving across the clearing.

She stops when ten feet of space separates them and turns to face him. Holding up her right hand, a golden glow appears, just as it does on Natsu's left.

The mark on her back stretches it's wings, as if waking from a nap and it snaps its jaws shut when they speak as one.

"Mark of the dragons. Elements of fire, sky, metal, shadow, light, water, poison, chaos, lightning, ice, and celestial. The time has come to reveal thyself and come undone."

Hovering in the air between the slayers, a small golden speck appears and the chant begins again.

Each time the chant repeats the golden speck expands until in the very center of the cavern, in the middle of the clearing, sits an insignia of a dragon curling in on it's tail, glowing in gold.

Almost as soon as the insignia is shining in bright gold two hands slash through it, hands connecting at the wrists, palm up. One, a feminine right hand, bares a bright red dragon tattoo. The head faces the fingers as well as its partner where the golden dragon resides on the masculine left hand. The opposite hand of both hovers, palm up, at their waists.

The crowd around them waits with bated breath, unsure of how to take in the sight before them. For before them stands not the fire dragon slayer and celestial mage, but a duo of extremely powerful dragons; their draconic nature changing every aspect of their being.

It starts in the eyes. Onyx changes to sharp emerald; chocolate brown brightens to molten gold. The iris changes from circular to a slit thinner than a claw scratch.

And then they move.

Slowly they walk to their left, turning in a full circle before they spin, then their wrists again in contact with one another.

The second time they repeat the motion the dragons on their arms flap their wings and a pulse travels through the room.

At first it's subtle, no more than a heartbeat felt by all, but with each step, each spin, it becomes louder until it's felt in their bones. As if they're being pulled by a string the slayers make their way through the crowds, the beat commanding their movements as they come to a stop on the edge of the clearing.

To Natsu and Lucy, however, it goes unnoticed. They spin away from the center and when they stop horns can be seen curling from their hair. Even as they move the horns continue to grow, curling up and around the back of their heads.

As they move, their footsteps pick up speed and the pulse mirrors the effect, each beat becoming quicker.

At another spin a dull glow overtakes Lucy and when it fades surprise ripples through the crowd at the sight of golden scales adorning her face, running down her neck, and are visible along the backs of her arms. Her ears take on a point and when she lifts her lips the visible canines she took on from the slayer training are now much sharper.

The torn up dress she had been wearing is gone, replaced by a golden floor length ball gown that shimmers in the light. Starting from the hem and rising to her waist a river of stars spiral around the skirt, seeming to dance across a background of scales. Behind her a tail of gold gleams. The blouse of the dress lacks detail but makes her all the more entrancing for it.

A flare of red gathers the crowds attention and they look to Natsu.

Even as he moves a ring of fire appears at his feet, slowly moving up his legs and burning away his old clothes only to be replaced by new. His shoes are as black as night and yet reflect the flames as clear as day. As the fire passes over them, his pants turn matte black while a crimson red shirt can be seen underneath a matte black coat. Around his neck his muffler of white scales appears.

At his waist a ring of flames separates and a tail of crimson whips behind him. When the ring of fire reaches his shoulders it divides into fours. Two gather in between his shoulder blades then spread out, a set of crimson wings tipped with black talons shining in the fire light.

When the two remaining rings of flames reach his wrists the limiters disappear. The power that swamps the area forces the slayers to take a knee in submission and recognition of their drake and his queen.

Dust and dirt rises, the wind picking up speed enough to blow it around, and the crowds have to step back to avoid getting caught in the vortex. Almost as quickly as the wind and vortex rises, it disappears, leaving the slayers kneeling in seven magic circles engraved in the floor.

The seven magic circles only make up part of the bigger picture. Four others are left open while around the perimeter of the engraved markings Loke appears. His expression is serious and he scowls as he slides the tinted shades into place on his nose.

Beside him the other spirits start to appear one by one until all twelve stand watching the ritual. Their expressions are serious, but if one looks close enough they can see the worry the spirits have over their masters.

After Pisces appears the magic circles in which the slayers kneel begin to glow, each a different color as their element rises around them. Light blue reflects off of Wendy's cheeks as her hair blows from the tornado around her. Green light bounces off the wall of iron at Gajeel's back, while the yellow lighting blends in with the lightning surrounding Laxus. Black shadows creep around Rogue as if intent to swallow him whole, and the crowd has to avoid looking at the blinding white light coming from Sting. On the other side, near where Natsu stands, the crowd looks on in surprise as a purple cloud gathers over Cobra, no one having known of the poison slayer's presence.

When the seven elements are established Natsu spins away, a flame landing in one of the magic circles and flaring into a bonfire. He turns back, his wrist connecting with Lucy's and an orb of dark gray, almost black smoke appears in one of the magic circles.

When the chaos magic takes hold in the magic circle, Lucy spins away and the temperature drops. Between the fire and chaos elements, the two remaining circles begin to fill with water, both rising until two columns stand, and then one freezes through, the middle being see-through as the ice magic is recognized.

The magic circles glow when all the elements are present and Natsu and Lucy back away to opposite sides of the clearing. Their hands are clasped together in front of them and they close their eyes as the elements of the dragon slayers spin faster, causing them to almost disappear from sight.

When the slayers are no longer visible, words echo across the cavern.

" _Surge puer dracones, sentiamus ventum in alis tuis capere. Nulla forma validissima."_ The words are so deep in timber and filled with so much power that the crowd can barely make them out.

One by one, the veil of elements falls away, causing the crowd to gasp. For in their most primitive state, stands the slayers.

Wendy, the first to be revealed, stands at her full height while her hair stands on it's end. No longer is it blue, it now resembles Natsu's in shade but is much longer, almost doubling her total height. On her back, a set of miniature white wings similar to Carla's or Happy's seem to glow, while feathers surround her wrists and ankles. Her eyes, though slitted with the control of her instincts, match the pink of her hair and are focused solely on the ritual in front of her.

The second to be revealed has Levy watching intently while his silver scales gleam in the lights. Gajeel's hands are pointed with razor sharp claws. The skin not covered with scales seems to gleam a similar color of metallic grey. The ripped dress coat he had been wearing falls away, nothing but shredded cloth having been torn up completely from the sharpness of his element. His eyes, though slitted, are almost the size of thumb tacks and completely black.

As the lightning fades, Erza has to close Mirajane's mouth for her at the sight of the buff, muscular body Laxus sports. His shirt having disappeared during the transformation reveals pale yellow scales crawling up his arms, enhancing his tattoos, and spreads across his back. His eyes have no irises.

Purple poison fades and the crowd is astonished at the sight of the scales covering almost the entirety of Cobra's face. The non-useable eye having been covered up completely with scales while the working one, similar to Laxus', lacks an iris. Poison drips from his claws and his fangs seem to glow in the lighting.

Blinding white fades and Yukino watches Sting with interest, having seen his dragon force before, even she's surprised by the amount of white scales that cover his skin. Instead of just covering parts of his arms and face, the scales completely cover his arms and encroach around his eyes. His eyes themselves are light gray and slitted.

Standing next to him the shadows partly fall away around Rogue while also seeming to cling to his legs and making him more like an illusion then a slayer. His marks copy Sting's with matte black scales completely covering his arms and encroaching his eyes. His eyes: slitted matte black. In the crowd Kagura throws a glance his way every few seconds before returning to watch with silent awe the dance the duo is occupied in.

The golden seal in the middle of the clearing starts to pulse in time with the beat and the dragon itself seems to start spinning, a vortex appearing in the center. The air around the crowd starts getting thin and they look to the sky slayer as she winds her arms in a clockwise motion.

The air condenses and she fires it at the vortex. Behind them an explosion occurs and part of the crowd look toward the sound to see some of the charging lacrima exploding, the energy within being drawn in with Wendy's attack.

Each slayer repeats the process, firing a ball of their element into the vortex and each time multiple explosions occur as more lacrimas run out of energy.

When the seven elements have gone, the slayers return to their original positions, taking a knee as their transformations fade.

Natsu and Lucy, however, are not finished. They raise their hands to their mouths preparing for a roar and from where he stands Loke goes pale. He tries to lift his feet, to do something to stop his friends but his feet are stuck in place, the seal and the ritual preventing him from moving.

He raises his hands and they stop a foot in front of him, an invisible barrier keeping him from interacting with the summoners in any way.

"Lucy!" At the same time he calls out an even louder call echoes through the room.

"Elemental Dragon's Roar!"

As multicolored lights flood the cavern the spirits can only hang their heads in grief, as the last of the duo's magic being used breaks the seal.

When the light fades, their transformations fade as well and they sway on their feet before hitting the ground. The crowds are stunned silent and one by one the spirits return to the spirit realm, not wanting to be around for the inevitable.

Loke is the last to go, glancing once more to where Lucy lays, people from their guild starting to filter from the crowd to find out why they're not rising.

A cry sounds out from Levy as she kneels beside her friend and chaos breaks out, the crowd rushing to where they lay.

Amidst all of the craziness, no one notices the seal falling to dust or when a hand appears from thin air, a shadow door opening. Blue hair flashes in the remaining scattered light as the woman pushes through the crowd toward Lucy, a red-headed male and blonde-haired male close behind.

Grandine kneels beside Lucy, gently pushing Levy out of the way and looks up at Igneel.

"We need room to work."

He nods and looks at the crowd, their confusion quickly turning to wariness as they eye him, until he lands on the sight of the diminutive man he's looking for.

"Makarov, you hold command over these humans, push them back before I do."

The guild master nods and cups his hands around his mouth, turning to the crowd. "Back up, and make room!" His voice booms and though the mages are confused, they do as he commands, allowing more than enough room for Spark to kneel on the other side of Lucy.

Grandine's hands glow blue and she grimaces. "It's not good but it's not bad either. Put your hand here," she points to the middle of her forehead and Spark gently presses two fingers to the pale skin. "Then the other over her heart."

He does as she commands and a few seconds later a large bolt of lightning travels through his fingers down to her heart, then up his other hand. The bolt makes her body jump and they wait with baited breath as her breathing returns from almost nonexistent to steadier, deeper intakes.

Spark removes his hands and they watch as her eyes flutter open, confusion evident as she watches them.

Grandine leans over her, taking in the sight of the blurry brown set on her. "Lucy, can you hear me?"

The blonde nods and Grandine heaves a sigh of relief until Lucy croaks something out. She frowns, tilting her ear to her.

"What was that?"

"Natsu." The word is hoarse, and Grandine can barely make it out, but when she does she looks over to where the pinkette still lays, Igneel keeping a careful eye on him.

"Grandine, I have her, you and the electricity socket go take care of him."

Spark scowls at the name but they move so Celeste can kneel beside the now somewhat lucid blonde. A glow of gold catches their attention as they turn away and they know that Celeste is convincing Lucy to eat some of the element to bring her around.

Their attention turns to the pinkette and Grandine goes pale, her pace picking up until she slides, kneeling next to him.

She growls, sharp and low when her exams show up worse than she thought and looks up at Spark. "Up the wattage, three-twenty straight to his heart."

Igneel sputters from behind her but she ignores it, instead focusing on her exams as Spark charges the voltage and pushes his hand down onto Natsu's chest harshly.

Natsu's body jumps, unconsciously reacting to the voltage but shows no sign of him coming around as quickly as Lucy did.

Grandine frowns and without looking at Spark commands, "Three-sixty, same location."

"Why so high?"

This time she looks up at Igneel, her expression serious. "Because your son is a dumbass for using a fusion spell then proceeding into the ritual. You know just as well as we do that he's head strong so why did you teach him the technique?"

Natsu's body jumps again with the delivered shock but there's still no response and she chews on the inside of her cheek, trying to think of something else to try.

Gasps sound behind her and the sky dragon turns to see Lucy crawling over to Natsu, the gasps having come from the surprised celestial dragon.

Grandine frowns and looks at the blonde with a serious expression. "Lucy, what are you doing?"

The blonde ignores her and instead continues to crawl until she stops near Natsu and sets his head in her lap.

The dragons look on in confusion as she hums something under her breath and when Grandine manages to look her in the eye she realizes that Lucy, for the most part, is still out of it. She doesn't seem to notice anything around her, at least that's the theory the sky dragon comes up with until Lucy lays a hand over his heart and she speaks barely loud enough for Spark and Grandine to hear.

"Come on, Natsu, you promised me that we would go on adventures together. It's not fair if you leave me behind." With that she spreads her fingers, her fingers curling slightly and a bright yellow ball of lightning crackles between the digits. Then she slams her hand down, her nails digging into his skin and Grandine's eyes go wide as he takes a gasping breath.

His eyes look around wildly but when they land on Lucy he calms down, slipping into unconsciousness.

Grandine uses her magic again, running a diagnostic on both as Lucy slumps over Natsu's head and sighs in relief at what she sees.

She rises to her feet and turns to see Layla standing beside Igneel, both watching her anxiously.

"They're safe. All they need to do now is sleep off the effects in peace and they'll be back up and running around in the next few days."

When someone clears their throat the dragons turn to see Makarov approaching with Erza and Gray.

He frowns, his brows narrowed as he looks at his 'children' then back to the dragons. "Igneel, Layla, Erza and Gray have volunteered to help you take them back to their inn so they can rest while we clean up down here."

Layla looks to her dragons then back to Makarov. "Very well, Igneel, Metalicana, carry Natsu and Lucy."

The fire and iron dragons move without question. Igneel picks up Natsu while Metalicana carries Lucy and the former turns to Erza. She turns away, Gray following her quietly and the group passes through the suddenly quiet crowd.

When they disappear down the tunnel Layla turns back in enough time for a body to be thrown through the crowd. The person rolls to a stop in front of her as Acnologia and Glacier step out of the crowd. In their eyes, silent anger speaks volumes.

Spark picks the man up by the back of his shirt, revealing him to be the lead hunter and Layla scowls.

"Jonathan Beasley."

The lead hunter tilts his head up and his sneer can be seen by the whole crowd. "Layla Heartfilia, how nice of your majesty to meet me."

Layla growls, drawing the attention of the rest of the dragons in the cavern and they gather around her.

"I told my husband it was a bad idea to make a contract with you. My spirits warned me against it, and I warned him. Yet, you still managed to worm your way in, and for what? A few measly deeds that no one cared for?"

Jonathan throws his head back and laughs. When he's done he looks at her, expression cold and calculating. "What you don't seem to understand, Layla, is that those deeds were for land where portals are located."

The dragon's eyes go wide but Layla stays composed. Her eyes turn cold and she looks at Spark.

"Take him to the base and have Valerie question him. If he survives that, let Acnologia have him for the hatchlings."

The hunter's eyes go wide and he starts fighting against the lightning dragon's grip. "This is cruel, I've done nothing wrong!"

Ice shoots across the ground and Spark steps back as Glacier grabs Jonathan by his throat. "You wanna know what you've done wrong? I'll tell you, you spineless, scaleless, scum. Your spawn killed my mate. You kidnapped Lucy, tried to kill her twice, tampered with the portal seal, almost causing a realm collapse. Not enough? Let me remind you of the fact that you almost killed Clare. Oh and let's not forget the fact that the chaos breed is almost extinct because of _you_."

By the time she's finished his face is turning purple and Layla steps in to prevent the normally emotionless ice dragon from killing him. "Glacier, that is enough, leave him to Spark!"

The ice dragon drops him and turns to Layla, bowing at the waist. "My apologies, your majesty, I overstepped my boundaries."

Layla sighs through her nose. "Until we return, you will help Grandine with healing the wounded."

"Yes, your majesty." After she finishes speaking she walks over to stand beside Grandine while Spark and Acnologia grab Jonathan, hauling him through the portal even as it slowly begins to resemble the door from the dragon realm.

Layla looks over to where Makarov stands and arches an eyebrow. "Master, are you going to come say hello?"

Makarov chuckles and walks up to Layla and takes her hand in between his. "Layla, I do believe we have much to discuss."

She grins. "Indeed we do."

 **~Three days later~**

Light comes through a set of curtains, shining brightly on a certain Dragon Slayer's face and he groans, rolling over to hide away from it. His arm lands against something soft and he moves it up, feeling warm smooth skin run under his hand and he opens his eyes to see his blonde asleep, curled up against him.

A purr rumbles from his throat and he dips his head to rub his nose against her throat. She moans, bringing her hand up to push him away and he chuckles.

Finally, her eyes blink open and when she recognizes him she sighs in relief and leans further into him. She mumbles something and he gently pushes her shoulder to lean her back.

"Luce, you know I can't hear you when you're like that."

She looks at him, brown eyes locking onto onyx. "I said, was it all just a dream?"

"No, it wasn't a dream, darling."

They look up in surprise but it relaxes when they recognize Igneel leaning against the door frame, his smile gentle.

"It's about time you two love birds woke up. You hungry?"

Natsu's stomach answers for them and the fire dragon shakes his head in amusement.

"Breakfast will be ready in twenty." With that he walks away, leaving the duo alone again.

She sighs, pushing to sit up and runs hand over her face. An arm wraps around her waist, pulling her back down and she squeaks. "Natsu, come on."

"No, Luce, let's just stay here. The prophecy is done, the dragons are free, and I want to spend time with my mate without having to worry about some bastard trying to kidnap her.

The look in his eyes wins her over and she lays back down. "You know, eventually we're gonna have to get up."

He rubs his nose along her neck, inhaling deeply and when he exhales she shivers from the blast of hot air.

"I know, Luce, but I just want to spend some time with you before it all goes crazy again."

She lays her head on his shoulder, and he sets his chin over her head. Her breathing soon settles back into the gentle pace of sleep. He follows only a minute later.

Half an hour after that, Igneel opens the door to see what's taking them so long, only to see the way they lay and shut the door back quietly.

* * *

 **To start with, the translation for the incantation during the ritual is this:**

 ** _"Rise young dragons, let the wind catch your wings and enter your strongest form."_**

 **Now if you were to ask a certain pixie on here I've had the ritual planned out for like six or seven months now, literally the scene struck me one night and it kind of clogged up my writing gears so Pixie Pixel advised me to write it out and it turned into three pages of scene. Now what I wrote then is not what you see here. No, I used what I wrote back then as a template and guideline to write out this chapter and I have to say it turned out pretty amazing. I know it certainly put my description skills to the test.**

 **Now that that's done let's head onto the reviews. Btw did you know y'all hit it out of the ball park with 14 reviews on chapter 28 alone? Y'all must really want the sequel. *grins***

 ** _Wesley,_ who did Strike piss off this time? Also, tell Yuki THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS FOR THE SEQUEL! Not until Chapter 30. As for the final chapter, I already have it finished and I have to say it has a lot more fluff than showing off.**

 ** _Multyfangirl,_ Yes Makarov has filled the Fairy Tail slayers in on the fact that Lucy is a slayer, but Sting, Rogue, and Cobra do not know. Same goes for them being royalty. How did you like this chapter?**

 ** _Guest,_ Glad to know you love the story, cliffhangers may be mean but sometimes they are required. Yes, when the limiters come off shit gets serious. Not sure about all hell breaking loose but I know the seal is broke.**

 ** _Shana,_ I can't believe you binge read it, I thought you were just gonna skim it. I have to say that when I originally was writing those, I knew I needed each of the dragons to have some kind of responsibility in the realm but I didn't think it would turn out as well as it did. Lol, yes, Lily can relax *winks* or can he? There may be kittens in the future.**

 ** _Sam,_ The leader's magic honestly came out of nowhere but I liked where it was going so I kept it. As for his son, you have to remember that when the nest was attacked the portals were still open, therefore, he had ample opportunity to step through. The reason why he was able to take out the nest, as well, comes from the fact that the dragons were defenseless since they were hibernating. Lily and Clare, I think your ship name works best since their names are so short. We're already well on our way to the goal, 171 reviews, yeah I think you'll be getting your reward next chapter. Btw, I recently came in contact with another writer who happens to be amazing at torture and surprise attacks so keep in mind payback is a bitch. *grins***

 ** _CNB,_ All chapters do not go under 2,000 words. That I make sure of, if I don't have at least five pages of text by the time I have to update then it doesn't get updated, example the one week I couldn't update. More often than not, the chapters are about 3k words or more.**

 ** _FairyTail9908,_ Sometimes I have a very hard time writing out a battle scene if only I can't envision what I want to happen, that's part of the reason some of the battle scenes like these recently are sort of rushed. For LBB, when it comes out I hope you and everyone else enjoys it and as for Crews, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the roller coaster. Things will be picking up over there in the next few chapters as we come around for another fight.**

 **Pixie Pixel, I do believe Glacier has covered every topic at the beginning of your rant as well as a few others. *snickers* You and the ice dragon must be sisters. Dude, it took me an hour to find that insult. Seriously I went through website after website trying to find one that wasn't too out of character and wasn't just downright crass. Those I'd prefer to save for crews and LBB. Lily and Clare... I can't say this enough... THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE. I wrote the characters and even I'm swooning. XD Yeah, Jonathan definitely underestimated the guild, Natsu, and especially Lucy. I had fun writing him as snobby, I may use that personality more often in my writing if only to give the characters someone to punch. Would I do that? Yes, yes I would. Nah, I don't think you'd go nuts, you'd probably just drive everyone else nuts from boredom. P.S. Blue, I've decided on the spy and you'll never seem them coming.**

 **OMGS, dude, you had to have stolen that pin, that pin is the answer to life!**

 **Alright y'all I'm running out of things to say and this chapter is already running at 5, 933 words. Yowza. To my new readers, even though the moon is setting on this story, the sun is set to rise on another so I hope that you'll fave and follow not only this story but myself as well to know when new stories and one shots drop.**

 **To my old readers, y'all know the deal. I wanna hear what you have to say. Did you enjoy the chapter? Like the ritual? Was there enough fluff?**

 **Even though we've hit the goal I hope to see some reviews letting me know what you think so until next time.**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


	30. Dragon's Future

**Here it is, y'all, Chapter 30 of The Dragon King and Queen. This is the final chapter so I thought we'd go for soft and sweet. If y'all thought the end of last chapter was fluffy then this chapter will give you cavities. *snickers* I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I have to give many props to ShanaHollows for helping me with the end.**

 **Now to warn you ahead of time this chapter is set about seven years in the future. If y'all have any questions all you have to do is ask, but some of the things I'm leaving open are to lead into the sequel, so go ahead, read the epilogue and I'll see y'all in the closing A/N.**

* * *

Chapter 30

Dragon's Future

 **Normal P.O.V.**

Two sets of footsteps are heard running down the carpet covered hall of the castle. One, a girl of about five years of age with long pink hair braided down her back and wearing a set of star pajamas, and the other a boy of the same age with blonde spiky hair and wearing fire themed pajamas.

They stop at an intersection where four halls meet and look back when they hear a voice call out behind them.

"Nashi Dragneel, Ryu Dragneel, get your butts back to bed this instance!"

Ryu pulls on his sister's hand causing her to stop and turn to him. "Come on, Nashi, we should listen to Mama."

She pouts and shakes her head. "I don't wanna go to bed yet, let's see if we can find somewhere to hide." She pulls him by the hand and starts running down another hall, oblivious to the shadow following them.

Out of nowhere the shadow darts in front of them and rises up in enough time for the children to be caught in a set arms.

"Hey now, your mother said it's time for bed." The voice, while deeper, eventually matches Natsu's face as he picks the kids up and walks back the way they came, one kid tucked under each arm.

Nashi pouts. "But, Dad, we're not tired!"

Natsu arches an eyebrow and looks at his daughter. "Tell you what, since you're not tired, why don't your mother and I tell you two a bedtime story?"

The kids seem to think it over and they look up when Natsu stops in front of a door that's ajar. Natsu pushes the door open with his foot to reveal a room decorated in colors from all the elements with fire and stars being the most prominent picture. A small bed sits on both sides of the room and Natsu sets Ryu down on one then Nashi on the other as a certain blonde appears in the doorway.

Lucy scowls as she watches their kids climb around on their beds. "I thought I told you two that when it's bed time you're not allowed to wander the halls?"

"But, Mama!"

Her gaze snaps to Nashi and it softens at the pout her daughter wears. "No buts, Nashi, bedtime is bedtime."

"Mama," Ryu grabs Lucy's attention from where he sits on his bed. "We might go to bed if you and Dad tell us a bedtime story."

The queen turns to her king, a glare set in place, and he shrugs, unable to deny that he had made a deal with them. Finally, she gives in with a small smile and walks over to Nashi's bed to tuck her in while Natsu does the same with Ryu.

"What story would you like to hear?" she asks, after both children are tucked into their beds.

Ryu looks hesitant and Nashi speaks up. "Tell us a new one."

Lucy taps her chin as she hums in thought, then grins and looks at Nashi as she begins her story.

"Once upon a time, a fire dragon lived on the outskirts of a small town. This fire dragon was loud and destructive, but he was also loyal, kind, and cared for those he considered family."

A blast of heat hits Lucy's back as she tells the story, but she doesn't bother to turn around, already knowing what Natsu is doing.

"The people he considered to be his family were most often found at a large building in the town that went by the name of 'Fairy Tail'. However, there was one among his family that he saw as someone much more important. He was in love with the woman, but he was too afraid to tell her."

"Why was he afraid?"

Lucy pauses in the storytelling and she can see the sparks from the latest scene fading away as she looks at Ryu.

"He was afraid because this girl was his best friend and he didn't want to ruin that friendship."

Both kids look to their father as he sits on the edge of Ryu's bed and picks up the story line.

"He loved her so much that he would rather not tell her and stay friends instead of risking it, but one day he had to."

Behind him two figures made of golden light appear in thin air.

"One day, he, his best friend, and their teammates had to go on a special mission for the leader of Fairy Tail. They went on the mission, and during a fight with some bad men the girl he loved was hurt. It looked like the battle was lost, until out nowhere there came a..."

The children's go wide when a golden dragon, almost an exact replica of Celeste, appears in the air. The dragon swoops down upon a field of black figures and they disappear in swirls of smoke as Lucy continues on.

"The dragon dove into the battle, turning the outlook for the Fairy Tail team, but at a price. It picked up the fire dragon and the girl and disappeared."

Again Natsu speaks. "Or so their teammates thought. In truth, the dragon had brought the duo to another realm entirely. This realm was filled with dragons. Some walked around and looked exactly like humans, but others wore horns, wings, a tail, and claws. Then there were even more that flew around in all their majestic glory, going about their business."

Flames hover in the air forming different dragons and the kids giggle when one of the flame dragons starts doing tricks. Lucy smiles as well and looks at her husband.

"While they were in the realm, they were asked by the dragons to help free them from a curse they had been under for many years. The curse kept them locked in the realm and they couldn't travel back to their homes in Earthland."

"Mama, why couldn't they go back?"

The scene behind her changes to an outline of a door with a drawing on it while men of black smoke stand around it.

"Because, Nashi, evil men who called themselves dragon hunters wanted to hurt the dragons and one way of doing that was to lock them away and keep them away from their families."

The picture changes to a family of three, two parents and one little child being torn apart with one of the people walking through the door. The color of the people change from a warm golden color to dark blue and the kids gasp.

"What happened?"

Natsu arches an eyebrow as he looks at the kids. "Do you really want to know?"

Nashi and Ryu nod together and Natsu picks up the story telling.

"The fire dragon and his friend went through months of training, learning each element of the dragons in the realm until they were able to open the portal between the realms and slip through. Unfortunately, the portal could only stay open for a minute and once again the dragons were sealed away. By the time they returned to Earthland the fire dragon had told his friend his feelings and they became a couple, but their friends didn't know it. So they continued on, taking missions for their guild leader and enjoying their life, until one day they came back from a mission."

Here, Lucy picks up the thread of the story again.

"When they got back, their guild leader wanted them to go on a very special mission with their teammates. This mission was to participate in an event called the 'Grand Magic Games'!" Her voice deepens in copy of an announcers and the children are entranced.

"The Grand Magic Games were a set of events where mages from all over the country could compete and show their skills, but in the end, Fairy Tail won, just as they had for a few years before."

Nashi yawns and Lucy looks over to see Ryu's eyes closing, so she hurries toward the end of the story, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"At the end of the Games, the king of the country held a special dance for the guilds that competed, even if they lost, and it was during this dance the hunters struck.

"In the middle of the night, the hunters snuck up on the girl and they stole her away from the fire dragon. They did this to lure the fire dragon to where one of the portals were hidden and they succeeded."

Natsu chuckles, and Nashi and Lucy look at him.

"What the hunters didn't expect, was for the fire dragon to bring friends, or for his friends to be just as strong as he. So, they took down the hunters and freed the girl, but in doing so activated the seal on the portal."

Nashi whimpers in fear, pulling her covers up to her eyes.

"Don't be afraid, Nashi, because they broke the seal, opening the portal and allowing the dragons to roam Earthland again."

The girl heaves a sigh of relief and Lucy creates a ball of fire in her palm, shaping it into two figures.

"After the seal was broken, the fire dragon and the girl were able to live in peace for many years, often traveling between the realms to care for matters and enjoying their family, living their happily ever after."

Nashi yawns louder than before and her eyes start to close. "I hope one day we get to have adventures like the fire dragon and the girl."

Natsu walks over, laying a hand on his wife's shoulder, and looks at his daughter with love and adoration.

"You will, Nashi, one day you and Ryu will find your own happily ever afters. Until then, sleep little dragon, and let your dreams guide your way."

When she falls asleep, Natsu pulls Lucy to her feet and they tip toe out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind them.

Lucy sighs and leans into Natsu's side, allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist. "I wonder how the guild is doing."

"Do you wanna go see?"

She shakes her head in reply to his question. "No, it's too late and I don't wanna leave the kids alone. The gods know what kind of trouble they'll get into while we're gone."

He chuckles. "Y'know, they take after you in that aspect."

Lucy rolls her eyes. "Please, Mr. _Fire Dragon._ We both know they get it from you. I was never a hellion when I was little."

He pouts as he holds open the door to their bedroom, and she shakes her head in amusement.

"I've heard _all_ of the stories from Igneel, Natsu, I know every little thing about how bad you were as a kid."

"Oi, don't blame it on me. Blame it in the overgrown lizard. He was the one that raised me."

She snorts in amusement, pulling back the comforter on the bed. He climbs in after her, pinning her, and kisses her.

"But you wanna know the lesson I remember to this day, and that I'm reminded of everytime I see you?"

She tilts her head and he kisses her again, then pulls away until his lips are barely hovering over her.

"Fire dragons hoard their gold with their lives and," another kiss, "they treasure their queens above all else. You, my dear queen, and our kids are the most precious treasures in my hoard."

She kisses him in return. "I may be your queen, but what is a queen without her king?"

He lies down, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzles into her neck. "I love you, Luce, I truly and utterly am in love with everything about you."

She sighs, enjoying the warmth of her dragon. "I love you too, Natsu."

There's a saying:

 _Every man needs a woman when his life is a mess,_

 _Because life is like the game of chess_

 _The queen protects the King._

In those lines, the King is protected by his queen and we forget that even the queen needs a hand.

 _But should the queen fumble and start to fall_

 _You can be sure the King will likewise be there to catch her._

For those kings, there is a queen out there that will have your back. Just don't forget to have hers.

* * *

 **And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of DKQ. I will admit, this story has taken months to reach this point. Tears have been shed, points have been made and still there are things that remain to be seen and done.**

 **But for now I've got some reviewers to reply to:**

 ** _Strike,_ Send Yuki my apologies, I didn't mean to sound rude. *returns glare* Go on, try to challenge me, we'll see how far you can push this Grizz. *taps chin* I could always let Layla and the dragons know your coordinates, Strike, so that you can't hide. I don't know, I'm feeling a little devilish today, I mean after all this is just the start of the week of uploads so we'll see what happens by the time Friday rolls around. As for how Fiore and Earthland will react to the return of the dragons, well you'll just have to wait for the sequel to come out. *winks***

 ** _Nighthowler,_ NO NEED TO BE SO LOUD, I'm right here damn it. You'll get more in the sequel, for right now might I suggest checking out my other stories? Also *grins* thank you for the compliment, my ego can always use some inflation. **

**_Shana,_ You and your puns are gonna be the death of me. Between here and AOO2. Which btw I still can't believe you came up 3 dozen. I just want to say thanks again for helping me come up with the closing quote. Did you enjoy the chapter?**

 ** _Multyfangirl,_ I know it's a shame you hopped on board this ride so late but don't forget that I do have other stories on here for your viewing pleasure. I know how it is, always looking for new stories to read and when a story you're enjoying does get updated. I don't know about you but I tend to squeal and jump for joy.**

 ** _Sam,_ *leans back from screen* Damn, son, I don't know who writes more for their review. You, Strike, or Pixie Pixel. I LOVE IT! Though I think so far it's a tie. Hunters, aye, I had fun writing them as snobbish pigs who deserved everything that came their way. So, I know I haven't out right said this the entire story but did you or anyone else maybe made the connection that Glacier's mate was a chaos dragon? As for the chant, I translated it two parts which is why it probably doesn't make mush sense. Also I did the same thing after I wrote it down, translating the parts back through and I still don't understand how it came out mangled. But *shrugs* the chant turned out awesome anyway so it doesn't matter at this point in the game. As you've already read I took a different approach with the final chapter. I wanted fluff, I wanted kids, and damn it I was gonna have fluff and kids. And since you are such an amazing reader I'm gonna give you a little hint that the story they told will be a big part in the sequel. *wink* I'll let you play around with that idea while I write out Crews. I don't know where you got a preview from, I'm just giving you the title and the summary for the sequel. And, yes, in the sequel there will be many, MANY of my main ships mentioned. Btw, *sets hands on hips and arches eyebrow* do you really think I'm gonna drop my ClarexLily ship faster then a hot rock during a summer day in Texas just because we're jumping stories? *rolls eyes* Cobra will have his ship too, I just couldn't have Kinana in the midst of the fighting because she's not a mage and would've been killed.**

 ** _Guest,_ I'm glad you loved the chapter. As I've said in the A/N of last chapter it took me months to get the scene right so to know that everyone enjoyed it is exhilarating.**

 ** _Crystalic Lotus,_ Is that even a real number? Because if it is I'm glad the chapter earned that high a score in your books.**

 ** _SilentMockingjay,_ sadly I have to say that this is indeed the final chapter for DKQ. But do not be discouraged for there is a sequel in the works and I have three other stories that I will be updating every week. Plus I have one shots that come out every once in a blue moon or more often. *shrugs* depends on if I get an idea for one or not and if I can work it into something longer then a couple pages.**

 ** _Pixie Pixel,_ Yup, I'm sure you, Strike, and Sam are tied when it comes to the length of your reviews. Y'all just continue to blow me away with how detailed they are and how you're able to pick them apart so well. (Don't tell the guys I said that, they'll never let me live it down.) **

**#NEVERBLAMETHESUGAR!**

 **Motherforkers? That's a new one from you, still makes me laugh all the same though. *snorts* those pigs will never be stardust, they'll be reincarnated as dirt. Yeah, they almost died, for which the whole thing could've been avoided had the DAMN ASSHATS waited for the portal to charge naturally instead of tampering with it. *shakes head* will the evil asshats ever learn? *grins* not in my books, I have too much fun letting them get their asses kicked. Which, btw, are you as excited about LBB to come out as I am to upload it? And thanks, I had a lot of fun going back and redesigning the chapter. It took me the better part of a week to get it but once I had it down it melted together faster then the Domus Flau did when Natsu reappeared after his year away. Pixie Pixel! It doesn't matter whether your name is Blue, Pixel or Pixie, you have been one of my longest standing readers and I always enjoy when you comments or ideas about things. You, Sam, and Strike have been major motivators for my writing as well as helping me come up with ideas, especially for this story.** **Dude, if fluff is what we need then I can make it so fluffy that by the time you finish reading you'll have so many cavities you need to get fake teeth.** **Did you enjoy the first day of the week of uploads? Because things are just starting to roll.**

 **Alright, now that that's done I'd say that it's time I give you your gift. A few weeks back I'd stated that if we could reach 175 reviews then in the closing A/N of this chapter I'd give you the title and summary of the sequel as a parting gift. Now I deliver on my promise:**

 _ **Demon's Wrath**_

 _ **Strip a man of everything he has, everything he loves then ask him to fight. That is when you'll see the demon hidden within. That is when you'll meet your end.**_

 **I'm gonna let y'all simmer over that until Crews is over then I'll be back. This universe is far from done and I promise when y'all see me again the chapters will be crazier, questions will be answered and there will, for certainty, be twists and turns that no one would be able to see coming. So until then:**

 **Grizzly out for the night.**


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